The Half Night King
by Kumo no Shinigami
Summary: On a cloudy October evening, a beaten and bloodied Naruto finds himself in the forest, begging to be free of his torment. He never expected anyone to answer...  Naruto/FemKyuubi On indefinite hiatus.
1. Chapter 1

Hello, everybody. Before we begin, I want to make something clear. If you've read my other fic, you'll know that Naruto is a total badass in it. That's how I like it. That's the kind of story I enjoy reading, and that's how I write. He won't be quite as strong as in that fic, though he will be strong. That said, we can commence with the story.

**Welcome, everybody, to the first chapter of The Half-Night King.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or anything else that may or may not appear in this fic.**

"We cannot banish dangers, but we can banish fears. We must not demean life by standing in awe of death."

For thousands of years, Humans have believed themselves to be the masters of their world. This is not true. There exist powers far greater than a human could ever grasp, watching over them in silence. Amaterasu, Goddess of the sun, and Tsukiyomi, God of the moon. It was they who created the Humans in the image of the two Divine races, the Angels, and the Vampires. These two races have long fought each other, neither one gaining an advantage. The two deities, who were in fact Brother and Sister, have long sought a truce between the two races. A unity.

This is why, on one cloudy October evening, the eyes of the Gods fell on a young boy, no older than ten. This boy had been the victim of much cruelty in his lifetime, and the cruelty of the village he lived in had long gone unpunished. The Gods saw great potential in this boy. They descended from the heavens to bring their gift to this unfortunate child.

In Konoha

Uzumaki Naruto wandered through the forest of Konoha, glaring up at the moon. His blond hair was matted down with blood, and his white shirt was stained crimson. It was a few days before his eleventh birthday, and the villagers had been particularly nasty. He had managed to escape with only a few broken bones, but his scalp was split open when someone threw a large rock at the back of his head. His wounds had healed, as they always did, but it did nothing to alleviate Naruto's anger at his unjust fate.

"I would give anything to be free of this torment." He murmured to himself. "Anything?" he heard a voice behind him say. He quickly turned around, but he saw no one. "Whose there?" he asked, preparing to run if he had to. He turned back around, and when he did, there were two strangers standing in front of them. He could feel waves of power coming off of them.

The first one, a woman, had long golden hair and was wearing a long white and gold dress. Her eyes seemed to burn with an intense fire. The taller one, a man with silver hair, was obscured by the long black and silver cloak he wore around his whole body. He seemed to absorb all the light in the area.

"What do you want?" he asked warily. The man spoke, "I am Tsukiyomi, and this is my sister, Amaterasu. We have come to give you an opportunity to be rid of your suffering."

Naruto's eyes widened. He knew who these people were. "I'll give anything to be rid of this hell." Tsukiyomi's eyes narrowed. "Even your humanity?"

"What?" Naruto asked surprisedly. "My humanity?" Amaterasu nodded. "Are you willing to escape the confines of humanity, to cast away the chains placed on you by this village? Are you willing to become something far greater than a mere human?"

Naruto considered for a moment. "Yes. I would be willing to give up even my humanity to be free." The two Gods smiled. They each held out a hand, and in Amaterasu's hand appeared a ball of shining light. In Tsukiyomi's hand appeared a ball of shadow, sucking the light out of the area. "Place your hands on these orbs child, and take the first step into your freedom."

Naruto stepped forward carefully, and placed one hand on each of the orbs. The orbs were absorbed into the palm of his hand, and his body began to be wracked by horrible pain. He felt his bones break and reshape, his muscles tear and reform, and his entire chakra network felt like it was on fire. His hair was changed from blond to silver, with black streaks. His eye color changed to a deep red. He felt a ripping sensation in his back, and soon a large pair of skeletal wings erupted from his back. They were bare of feathers, but soon the shadows began to condense on the wings, forming into black, silver-tipped feathers.

For an hour he endured the pain of his body tearing itself apart and reforming. When it ended, he gasped for air. He shakily got to his feet, panting. He looked over at the two Gods, only to find them gone. There was a small scroll on the ground where they were standing. Naruto walked over to the scroll and picked it up.

Opening it, he read the contents. 'Naruto, you are the first half angel, half vampire hybrid the world has ever seen. You have the strengths of both, and the weaknesses of neither. Since you are half vampire, you will need to feed. You are able to control light and shadows, and combine them like no one else can. Yo can also use the secondary elements of each race. Fire for angels, wind for vampires. Your human chakra has been replaced by a fusion of angel and vampire chakra. Using the marks on the back of your hands, you will be able to summon angels and vampires to you at any time. You are their leader now. They will obey your orders. Contained in this scroll are weapons that will help you in your battles. Enjoy your new freedom.'

Looking at the back of his hands, he saw the markings the scroll spoke of. On the back of his left hand was the image of a sun, and on his right hand was the image of the moon. He opened the scroll further, until he came across a seal. He channeled chakra into it, and into his hands appeared a regular looking katana and a strange device he had never seen before. There was an envelope attached to the sheath of the katana. Naruto opened the envelope, and read the letter within. 'These are very special weapons. They were designed specifically for you. The first weapon is the katana. This weapon has three levels. This is the first. The others will be unlocked as you use the weapon. In this first level, just concentrate while running your chakra through it to change it between a katana, a zanbatou, and a double-ended spear. The next weapon we crafted for you is a weapon that has not been seen in this world for centuries. It is known as a gun, and when you pull the trigger, it launches a small metal projectile at incredible speeds. However, this is not a normal gun. Instead of the normal projectiles known as 'bullets', this gun fires special bullets that you can imbue with your power. You do not need to worry about ammunition, either. The bullets replicate automatically, giving you an infinite supply. Please note that these weapons do not make you invincible, and you should not rely on them. Be sure to train all of your abilities equally.'

Naruto nodded, taking that advice to heart. Academy graduation was in four years; he would have to train his new powers. He collected his new weapons, and vanished into the shadows.

Four years later

It had taken Naruto a few weeks at first to get used to his new body, as well as his powers. He did find that he greatly enjoyed flying, however. He had discovered that his wings were made from some kind of supernatural substance, as they could block even rounds from his gun.

The two Gods had made several visits to him over the years, and each time they had given him tips on how to use his light and darkness powers, as well as his different angelic and vampiric abilities. He had discovered that his light and shadow abilities were most powerful when combined. He had nicknamed the combination Hakumeiton, or 'Twilight release'.

It had been revealed that the two orbs he had absorbed to trigger his transformation had actually been two souls. The soul of an angel, and a vampire. The angel's name had been Abbadon. Before his death, he had been the leader of the angels, and the strongest angel in history. The vampire's name had been Alucard. The leader of the vampires, and the strongest vampire to ever exist. The two had killed each other in a massive battle centuries ago.

Naruto had been disappointed to learn that he did not have access to the full power of these souls. He had been told that that would come eventually, but not until he truly needed it.

He had invented a taijutsu style, as well. It was comprised of two separate styles, the Black Fist, which focused on quick and brutal offence, and the White Fist, which was more of an aggressive defense. Together, they formed the Gray Fist, Naruto's signature style. While researching Kenjutsu styles, he found that he didn't need one. When it came to Kenjutsu, he was a natural. His ability to adapt to any situation in a kenjutsu fight was enough already.

His appearance had also changed over the years. He stood at about six feet even, and his muscles were very well defined, compact to the point of looking like they were carved from stone. His hair, which had straightened out, was long, grown down to the small of his back. He wore only a black baggy pair of pants, and a pair of black combat boots. His wings basically made wearing a shirt impossible, so he went without one. On his hip, he wore a holster for his gun. All in all, it was a far cry from the orange-clad knucklehead he had pretended to be for four years.

He stood on the roof of his apartment, sword in hand and looked out over the village. "Get ready Konoha." He said to himself. "I'm about to unleash hell." He melted away into black smoke.

The Academy

Umino Iruka looked over his class, ticking off names on his sheet. He came to Naruto's name, and frowned. The blond was never late. He may sleep during class and not pay attention, but he was always on time. As he was about to mark Naruto as late, the door opened.

Everybody looked at the door as a stranger in black with silver and black hair and a large pair of wings entered the classroom carrying a sword. "Am I late?" the stranger asked. Iruka's eyes widened as he saw the whisker marks on the stranger's face. "Naruto? What happened to you?" Everybody gasped as they heard that the person in front of them was Naruto.

Naruto replied to Iruka, "The orange wearing loser you saw before was not me. That was just who I was pretending to be." Iruka shook his head. "Err, what I meant was, why do you have wings?" Naruto looked at him, trying to decide what to tell him. Eventually he decided to just fuck it and go with the truth. "I'm half angel, half vampire. No human." He said to the surprise of the class. After all, what the hell were they gonna do about it?

A pink haired girl sitting next to Sasuke stood up and shouted, "Yeah right, Naruto-baka! You're probably just using a henge! Stop trying to look cool and sit down!" Naruto glared at her. "Haruno, the only thing that makes me sicker than my pretending to have a crush on you for the past four years is the fact that someone like you would actually be considered qualified to be a Kunoichi. Now, either you shut your mouth, or I will gladly shut it for you." the class gaped at the way naruto spoke to Sakura. They all started to whisper amongst themselves. Seeing no other place to sit, Naruto took the empty seat next to Hinata, who was blushing furiously.

Iruka called for the class to settle down and when they all quieted down, his assistant Mizuki passed out their tests. "This is the first portion of the Graduation exam. You have half an hour. Begin." The class began to write down their answers, but Naruto noticed that his paper had a genjutsu over it. Deciding to fuck with whoever put it there, he discreetly cancelled it, and proceeded to write down the correct answers. At the end of the half hour, he turned his paper in with the rest of the class and they all went outside.

Iruka spoke up, "The next portion of the exam is shuriken and kunai throwing. You will be given ten of each, and you will throw them at the targets." Eventually they got to Naruto. Sasuke had the highest score so far, scoring seventeen out of twenty bullseyes. Naruto accepted his kunai and shuriken and launched them all at the targets. The kunai hit first, each one scoring a bullseye. Then the shuriken followed, splitting each kunai straight down the middle and embedding firmly in the targets. Iruka whistled. "Great job, Naruto! You scored highest on this portion."

They all walked over to the taijutsu field. Iruka said, "It's time for the taijutsu portion. You will select who you want to fight against, and fight in a straight taijutsu match, no weapons, no jutsu." After several matches, Sasuke was called. "Alright, Sasuke, who do you want to fight?" He replied, "Naruto."

Naruto faced him and the two got into fighting stances. Sasuke was using the basic Academy stance, but Naruto was using a stance none of them had seen before. Sasuke rushed at Naruto, sending a kick at his gut, but Naruto blocked it and returned it with a punch to the face. Sasuke was sent back a few feet by the punch, but landed on his feet. He spat out some blood and rushed back at Naruto, who came at him as well. Sasuke jumped in the air, attempting to kick Naruto in the head, but Naruto ducked and punched upwards, hitting Sasuke in the nuts.

Sasuke fell gracelessly to the ground, clutching himself. His groans of pain were enough to let Iruka know he wasn't getting back up. "Winner, Naruto." He winced as he looked at Sasuke on the ground, still rolling around in pain. Looking at his list, he called the next name. "Naruto, you're next. Who do you want to fight?" Naruto answered, "Mizuki-sensei." Iruka quirked an eyebrow while Mizuki grinned to himself. 'This is excellent! Time to put that demon in it's place.'

Mizuki walked over to face Naruto, and they both got into their fighting stances. When the match began, Mizuki quickly rushed at Naruto, hoping to catch him off guard. He punched at Naruto's stomach, but was blocked. Naruto kicked him in the stomach, knocking the air out of him. Naruto then punched him in the gut twice and in the face, knocking him away. Angered, Mizuki ran at Naruto with a kunai. He slashed at Naruto's face, but was bet by Naruto's sword. Mizuki threw away the kunai and pulled out a ninjato, slashing at Naruto's gut. Naruto blocked the blow and thrust towards Mizuki's heart, missing by a hair's breadth. He slashed Mizuki across the chest, slicing through the Chunin vest and leaving a cut across Mizuki's chest. Mizuki yelled in anger and thrust toward Naruto, aiming to impale him. Naruto swept the sword away and punched Mizuki in the face. Catching his wrist, Naruto twisted, forcing Mizuki to drop his blade. He grabbed Mizuki by the hair and threw him face-first into a nearby tree. Mizuki hit with a crunch, and Naruto was there waiting for him. He put his sword at Mizuki's throat. Iruka and the rest of the class were watching with their jaws on the ground. "W-winner, Naruto." He stammered. Naruto sheathed his sword and walked back to the class.

They all went back inside for the final portion of the test. Once they had all taken a seat, Iruka said, "This is the Ninjutsu portion of the test. You will come to the front of the class and perform the three Academy jutsu. This counts for a large portion of your grade, so if you didn't do so well on the other parts, do your best on this one." Iruka went through the list of names one by one. Finally, Naruto heard his name called. He walked to the front of the class and stood in front of Iruka. "Perform a Henge, a Kawarimi, and three Bunshin."

Naruto transformed into a perfect copy of the Shodaime Hokage, switched places with Iruka, and created twenty clones, all without hand signs. Iruka smiled. "Impressive, Naruto. I wasn't sure if you would manage the Bunshin, but it seems you far exceeded my expectations." Naruto shook his head. "These aren't regular Bunshin. They're Yami Bunshin, the jutsu the Kage Bunshin was based on. They have the same properties as Kage Bunshin, except they can only be dispelled by a killing blow." He punched one of them in the face for demonstration. "Unfortunately, they're still only a tenth of the strength of the user."

Iruka shook his head. "You're full of surprises, Naruto. You pass. Congratulations, you got the highest scores in every part of the exam." Naruto picked up his headband and went to his seat, tying it around his right bicep. "Alright, everybody who passed, be here tomorrow for team announcement." Iruka said. The class all began to file out.

Naruto had exited the Academy when he felt someone coming up behind him. He turned and saw Sasuke walking up to him. "What do you want, Uchiha?" He asked. "Give me your sword, dobe. A loser like you doesn't need it." Naruto narrowed his eyes. "No way in hell am I going to give you anything, Uchiha. Get that stick out of your ass or I'm gonna pull it out and beat you with it."

Sasuke smirked. "Whatever, dobe. I'll just talk to the council, and they'll make you give it to me." He began to walk away when he suddenly began to feel very cold. He turned to see Naruto, Seemingly absorbing the light from around him. From the shadows that were condensing around Naruto, a long black tentacle shot towards Sasuke and wrapped around his neck. It lifted him into the air and slammed him against a wall. "You listen to me, Uchiha. Nobody, and I mean nobody, is going to make me give you shit. Not the council, not the Hokage, not even the ghost of the Shodaime himself. Now get out of my sight." The tentacle dropped him, and Naruto began to walk away. As he walked, he melted away into smoke.

He reappeared in his usual training spot to find Tsukiyomi and Amaterasu waiting for him. He greeted both of them and Tsukiyomi said, "Greetings, Naruto. We have something for you, a sort of congratulations on your graduation." In front of him appeared a large scroll. "This is a summoning scroll. We spent quite a while finding the right one for you, but I think you'll like what we picked."

Naruto quirked an eyebrow. "What kind of summons is it?" he asked. Tsukiyomi smirked. "Sign it, and find out." Naruto rolled open the scroll, and was shocked at the names inside. Every single one of them was an Uzumaki. "What…" Amaterasu explained, "We found this in the ruins of Uzushiogakure, where your clan is from. This was your family's summoning contract. The last name on the scroll was your mother."

Naruto looked at the name. 'Uzumaki Kushina…mother.' He committed it to memory. Biting his thumb, he signed the scroll and added his handprint next to his signature. Performing the hand signs, he slammed his hands on the ground, obscuring himself in a large amount of smoke. When it cleared, he was standing on the back of a large dragon. He grinned wildly. Oh, yeah. This would do just fine.

The dragon spoke up in a deep voice, "Who summoned me? Where are you?" Naruto jumped off the dragon's back and landed in front of it. "I summoned you. My name is Uzumaki Naruto." He said. The dragon replied, "Uzumaki, eh? I thought Kushina-chan was the last Uzumaki. You know her?" Naruto nodded. "She was my mother. She died giving birth to me." The dragon blew smoke from its nostrils. "Damn. I always liked Kushina-chan. Best damn summoner we ever had. Anyway, you can call me Aizen. You'll need to summon my father, the boss, if you want to be able to summon us. I suggest doing that soon. He'll be eager to meet you."

Naruto nodded, and performed the hand seals. After biting his thumb and slamming his palm down on the ground, a gigantic cloud of smoke obscured everything in the forest. Out of the smoke came a gigantic black dragon that was easily as tall as the Kyuubi. **"Who summons Ragnarok, king of the Dragons?"** it asked. It looked down and saw Naruto and Aizen, and said, **"Another Uzumaki, eh? Greetings, boy. I am Ragnarok. Feel free to summon my kind and me if you need us. Aizen, I expect you to look after the boy." **Aizen nodded at his father's instructions.

Naruto looked at Aizen. "What did he mean by 'look after him'?" Naruto asked. Aizen answered, "It means I'm your familiar. I'm supposed to stay with you, help you fight, that kind of stuff." Naruto quirked an eyebrow. "I think people might object to me bringing a large dragon into the village." Aizen snorted. "No worries." He began to shrink until he was only about a foot tall. He flew up and perched on Naruto's shoulder. "Err…Okay, better." Naruto looked towards the two Gods, only to find that they weren't there. 'Every frickin' time.' He thought to himself. He began to walk back to the village through the forest.

As he walked, he sensed someone up ahead. His vampire abilities allowed him to sense people nearby, and recognize them by the smell of their blood. He was surprised to sense Mizuki in a clearing up ahead. He got up close so he could hear what was going on. "Finally," he heard Mizuki say, "I have the forbidden scroll, and I can take it to Orochimaru-sama. And best of all, I was able to frame the kyuubi brat."

Naruto's eyes widened. 'Mizuki, turned traitor? I've got to stop him!' Mizuki was barely able to dodge the thrust to his heart. He jumped to his feet, and saw Naruto standing nearby, his sword drawn. "Well, if it isn't the demon brat. Too bad for you, we're all alone out here, and I can finally kill you-" He was interrupted by a large weight that slammed down on his head from behind, knocking him unconscious. Standing behind the unconscious form of Mizuki was Aizen, in his full size. "Got him, boss."

Naruto was about to take Mizuki and the scroll to the Hokage, when a devious thought crossed his mind. He sat down, and opened the scroll. He pulled out a smaller scroll, performed some hand seals, and placed a hand on each scroll. He decided to read the scroll while he had it. He found several interesting jutsu on there, but the most interesting thing of all was at the very bottom. It was a seal, with Naruto's name written above it.

Curious, he channeled his chakra into it. Out of the seal came another, smaller scroll. Naruto opened it and read the contents.

'Naruto, if you are reading this, then you are either a Chunin, or sixteen. You may already know this, but you are the jinchurriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. I am truly sorry for the massive burden I have placed on you. I can only hope the village sees you as the hero you truly are, though part of me fears that won't happen. Inside this scroll you will find the keys to the clan compound. All of my life's work is in there. I leave it to you. I have to go now. The beast draws near. Please know, if there were any other way, I would gladly take it. All I can do is thank you for the sacrifice you didn't choose to make. Goodbye, my son.

Your father,

Namikaze Minato, Yondaime Hokage'

Naruto read and reread the scroll over and over; so many times he thought his eyes would start to bleed. He realized what this meant. The Hokage, the one person in the village Naruto trusted, had lied to him his whole life. "SARUTOBI!" He roared. He grabbed Mizuki and the forbidden scroll, and flew up into the air, Aizen following.

Hokage's office

Sarutobi was sitting at his desk, doing paperwork, when suddenly; his window was smashed by someone being tossed through it. The person landed on Sarutobi's desk, and he saw that it was Mizuki, with the forbidden scroll attached to him. Looking out the window, he saw someone who he barely recognized. "Naruto?" he asked disbelievingly. "What the hell is going on? What happened to you, and Mizuki for that matter?"

Naruto just glared at him, his eyes glowing with a silver light. "I saw the letter, Sarutobi. There will be consequences for lying to me." The blond just flew higher into the air, and vanished in a burst of speed. Sarutobi sighed. "I knew this whole thing would come back to bite me." He turned to Mizuki, glaring at the unconscious man. "Now, to deal with you. Ibiki, it's your lucky day." Sarutobi chuckled evilly to himself.

Namikaze clan compound

Naruto was flying above his clan compound, marveling at the size of it. It was even larger that the Uchiha district! Aizen, who was flying next to him, whistled in appreciation. Which is weird, seeing as he was a dragon. "Damn, boss. You own all of this?" Naruto nodded. "That's right. You know, part of me is so angry with my father; I'm tempted to just burn this place t the ground. But honestly, I can't be mad at him. I would have made the same decision in his place. I try to deny that, tell myself I would have found another way, but I know that isn't true. Oh well."

Naruto began to dive straight down, closing his eyes. He fell for hundreds of feet, and just before he hit the ground, he flipped over and flared his wings, braking his fall. He landed on the ground in a crouch. He looked up, and saw that he was in front of the house of the clan head. He smirked to himself. "Heh, so this is my house. Nice." It was a large, three story house, in the center of the compound. He went inside, and saw that it was nicely furnished. He sent out ten Yami Bunshin to explore the house, and he liked what he found. There were several bedrooms, bathrooms, a master bedroom, a master bathroom, storage rooms, spare rooms, an attic, a room that would have been Naruto's room, and the basement, which extended far beyond the house. It was the clan library, as well as Minato's private workshop. All of the Namikaze techniques were down there, as well as the jutsu invented by the Yondaime. Naruto had no use for the Hiraishin, already being able to teleport, but he was interested in the Rasengan. He sent a few Yami Bunshin to study the scroll and practice. Eventually, he just ended up sitting on the black leather couch, watching TV. Since didn't need to sleep, an effect of his vampirism, He had little to do during the night. Finding nothing good to watch, he sent out clones to explore the rest of the compound.

The compound contained over fifty houses, ten dojos, a grocery store, two clothing stores, a ninja supply store, and a large warehouse full of weapons. There was also a large training area behind the compound, a huge clearing in the forest that was perfect for its intended use. Naruto was glad for the isolation of the training ground. Getting up off his couch, he left the house and decided to just train for the rest of the night. When they left the house, Aizen was happy to grow back to his full size. At his full height, he stood about thirty feet tall, and twice as long.

"Gah! That form is so constraining!" He shouted, stretching his muscles out. Naruto chuckled. "You know what, from now on i think it would be best if you only took that form when you needed to come inside, or sneak up on an enemy. Besides, if we're luck, some of the villagers might actually piss themselves." They both laughed at that. They both took off into the air, heading for the training ground.

The next day

Naruto and Aizen had trained through most of the night, sparring with each other along with many other creative forms of training. Naruto put his supernatural strength to the test by bench-pressing Aizen, who was complaining the entire time. After a while, the got bored and started playing checkers. Naruto won, five games to three.

Naruto was now heading towards the academy. He had decided to take the 'scenic route' as he called it, heading straight down the main roads of Konoha, riding on Aizen's back. He smirked, seeing the looks of fear on the villager's faces. Eventually, they got to the Academy, and Aizen shrunk down, landing on Naruto's shoulder.

He entered the classroom, people turning to look at him as he took a seat in the back of the class. Iruka looked at him before clearing his throat and saying, "Naruto, no pets in class." Naruto rolled his eyes. "Then why is Akamaru allowed to bring Kiba?" the class erupted in laughter at his joke, while Kiba just glared. Naruto continued, "And what about Sasuke? Everyone can plainly see the duck sitting on his head." The class began to laugh even harder, and even Iruka let out a few chuckles. Sasuke and Kiba were both glaring at Naruto.

Once everyone quieted down, Naruto said, "Anyways, Aizen isn't a pet, He's one of my summons." Iruka quirked an eyebrow. "Alright. Let's get on with team assignments, shall we? Let's see…Team One…" Naruto tuned out while Iruka called the names of the squads and their senseis. "Team Seven, Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto perked up at the mention of his name. "Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke." Sakura was about to complain, but she was interrupted by a loud crack. Everybody looked to the source of the noise, to see that Naruto had put his head through his desk. They all sweatdropped.

Iruka continued, "Err, Your sensei is Hatake Kakashi. Team Eight-" He was interrupted by the door opening, revealing a man with spiky silver hair, a facemask, and his hitai-ate covering his left eye. "Sorry I'm late." Iruka looked at him strangely. "Kakashi, you're actually early…" Kakashi looked confused. "Wasn't team assignment supposed to be at five in the morning?" Iruka rolled his eyes. "No, it was at eight in the morning, right now."

"Damn that old man! He lied to me!" Kakashi shouted. "Oh, well. Team Seven, Meet me on the rooftop." Sakura and Sasuke started to walk out the door, while Naruto just melted into smoke.

Naruto reappeared to find Kakashi waiting. Sakura and Sasuke appeared a moment later, looking winded. Kakashi looked at them and said, "Now that everybody is here, we can begin. I want you all to introduce yourselves." Sakura said, "Sensei, shouldn't you go first, to show us how it's done?"

Kakashi rolled his eye. "Very well. My name is Hatake Kakashi. I like a few things. I dislike a few things. I have some hobbies. Never really thought about dreams for the future. See? Easy. Now you, Pinky."

Sakura glared at the nickname. "My name is Haruno Sakura! I like Sasuke-kun, reading, and brushing my hair! I dislike…Naruto-baka, Ino-pig, and anybody who tries to steal Sasuke-kun! My hobbies are the same as my likes. My dream for the future…" she began to giggle and blush while looking at Sasuke.

Kakashi looked at Sasuke. "Your turn, Sunshine."

Sasuke said, " My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I don't really like anything. I dislike a lot of things. I don't have any hobbies, besides training. I don't have a dream, but an ambition. To kill a certain man, and rebuild my clan." Sakura swooned over Sasuke while Naruto and Kakashi just rolled their eyes.

Kakashi turned to Naruto. "Your next."

Naruto replied, "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like angels, vampires, dragons, training, weapons, fighting, anything that has to do with my family, and Uchiha Itachi. As far as I'm concerned, he did the world a favor. I dislike most of the civilians in the village, a few of the shinobi, rapists, and evil people in general. My hobbies are training, reading, and playing pranks. My dream for the future is none of your business."

Kakashi quirked an eyebrow at Naruto's introduction, while Sasuke seethed in anger. Sakura was wondering who Itachi was. Kakashi spoke, "Well then, I want all of you to come to training ground seven tomorrow morning at seven for our test.

Sakura looked at him in confusion. "What test, Sensei?" Kakashi's visible eye curled into an upside-down U. "Why, the test to see which of you will become Genin, of course." He said cheerfully.

Sakura just looked even more confused. "But Sensei, we already took the Genin Exam!" Kakashi shook his head. "That was just to see who had the potential to become a Genin. Well anyway, be at the training ground at seven. Oh, and don't eat breakfast, or you'll vomit." He gave them all another eye smile and vanished.

The next day

After the meeting on the rooftop, Naruto had gone home, trying to find various ways to amuse himself until morning. He had made a point to eat a large breakfast. He walked to Training ground seven, around ten, Aizen following behind in his full form. He spotted his two teammates up ahead, leaning against a tree.

Sakura glared at him as he approached. "Your late, baka! Sensei's gonna be angry with you!" Naruto rolled his eyes. "Sakura, if he were already here, then I'd be late. But he's not, so shut it." Sakura was about to yell at him, but stopped as she saw Kakashi walking up to them. "YOU'RE LATE!" she yelled.

Kakashi just eye smiled and said, "Sorry, I was helping an old lady out of a tree. And then I had to help a cat across the street." Sakura just looked confused. "Anyway, let's get on with the test." He took two bells out of his pocket and tied them to his waist. "You have to get these bells from me. Anyone who doesn't get a bell gets sent back to the Academy. But let me warn you; you wont get a bell unless you come at me with the intent to kill. Begin."

As soon as he said begin, Sakura and Sasuke Jumped into the forest. But Naruto just stood there. He drew his sword and said, "Intent to kill, eh? This is gonna be fun!" he rushed at Kakashi, swiping at his head. Kakashi barely had time to block the blow before he had to dodge a stream of fire from Aizen. He tried to put some distance between himself and Naruto, but the blond wouldn't let up. His swings were so fast, it was all Kakashi could do to keep blocking. On top of that, Naruto was swinging with such force, that Kakashi felt like his arms were turning to jelly. It didn't help that he had to keep dodging Aizen's attacks.

Finally, he was able to jump back a few feet from Naruto and catch his breath. He saw Naruto pointing a strange device at him, and was confused because he didn't know what it was. He saw a bright light building at the front of it, and started to get a sinking feeling in his gut. Finally, the light went flying at him, faster than he could blink, and it hit the ground in front of him, causing dirt to fly everywhere. He looked at the spot the blast had hit, only to be shocked at the three-foot-wide crater that was a foot deep. 'This kid really is trying to kill me!' He thought to himself.

He ran around the training ground, running for his life actually, as Naruto fired blast after blast at insane speeds. Finally, he was caught at the edge of one of the blasts, and sent flying. He landed in a tired heap, panting for breath. Before he could get to his feet, Aizen put one of his massive legs on Kakashi's back, holding him in place. He smiled in joy as he heard the timer go off. Aizen lifted his leg off of Kakashi, who got up and dusted himself off. Sakura and Sasuke both reappeared from out of the forest.

Kakashi smirked. "Well, that was fun. However, since none of you got a bell, I'm afraid you-" He was interrupted by Naruto clearing his throat. Kakashi looked at him and saw that he was holding both bells. His eye widened. "When did you-" Naruto cut him off again. "Right after you tied them to your belt. I also knew the true purpose of this test." He then proceeded to hand a bell to Sakura, and one to Sasuke. "Teamwork. Isn't that right, Sensei?"

Kakashi was just gawking at him. "If you had the bells from the start, then why did you spend an hour kicking my ass!" Naruto grinned. "It was more fun that way." Kakashi glared at him. "Grr. You all pass! Dammit." Sakura cheered while Naruto just kept grinning. "Meet back here tomorrow morning, same time for our first mission."

He vanished in a loud of smoke.

Hokage's office

Sarutobi was looking at the two Jounin on front of him. Apparently, only these two teams had passed this year. "So, this is it? I must admit, I'm a little surprised." Suddenly, Kakashi appeared in the middle of the room, covered in dirt, and a little blood, and looking like hell. His clothes were ripped, his arm was bleeding, and even his hair was drooping. "Team Seven Passes." He said before collapsing in a chair.

The other two Jounin, Kurenai and Asuma looked at him with wide eyes. "What the hell happened to you!" Kurenai shouted. "Uzumaki Naruto." Kakashi groaned. Everybody's eyes widened. "One kid did this to you?" Asuma asked in disbelief. Kakashi nodded and began to tell them all about his fight with Naruto.

They laughed when Kakashi said that the only reason he didn't use his sharingan was because he was too busy running for his life to uncover it. Eventually, the Jounin all left, and Sarutobi marked down the names of the Genin who had passed.

Namikaze Compound

Naruto sat on the couch in his living room, attempting to meditate. He had decided to pay a visit to the Kyuubi. He closed his eyes and focused on his breathing to the exclusion of all else. Eventually, he felt the rest of the world just fade away. When he opened his eyes, He was in a large maze of hedges, the walls of which went up as far as he could see. Looking up, he saw the moon and stars shining bright in the sky. He felt a pull in his mind, and followed it through the maze.

Eventually, he came upon a large cage in the center of the maze. It was around a thousand feet tall, and was dark within. He could see nothing inside. Suddenly, a huge pair of glowing red eyes opened inside the cage. **"So, my jailor finally decided to pay me a visit, eh? Come closer, boy." **Naruto walked up to the cage, only for the Kyuubi to swipe at him with its massive claws. The Kyuubi was shocked, however, as Naruto stopped the claws with a single finger. "So, you're the Kyuubi? I'm not impressed." He threw the beast back, and it slammed against the back of the cage.

The beast roared in anger. **"What! How is this possible!"** Naruto laughed in a sinister way. "In here, I am God. Your power is nothing as long as you are in MY mind." To prove his point, he walked straight through the bars of the cage, past the protection of the seal. **"Foolish child! Now you die!" **The Kyuubi lungedat Naruto, Trying to bite him in half, but before it touched him, it was sent flying backwards by an unseen force. **"W-what? That's impossible!" **

Naruto laughed as he exited the cage, and clenched his fist. The cage began to get smaller and smaller, until it was nearly crushing Kyuubi. It yelled out, **"How are you causing me pain! I can't feel anything in here!" **Naruto smirked. "I already told you. I am God in here. If I want you to feel pain, you feel pain." Kyuubi grunted in pain, but then smirked and began to shrink and change until, in its place, was a beautiful woman, with long red hair, and very large 'assets'. It didn't help that she was barely wearing any clothes.

Naruto looked at her in disbelief. "Kyuubi! You're…you're a chick!" Kyuubi laughed at him. **"Of course I am, boy.** **Couldn't you tell?" **she said in a much more womanly voice.Naruto sweatdropped. "Ah, no. Not at all, really." Kyuubi glared at him. **"Hmph. Men. Anyway, what did you come here for, anyway? Or was it just to humiliate me?" **

Naruto smirked. "Well then, I guess you're not interested in getting out of here." He turned to walk away. Kyuubi's eyes widened. **"Wait! Please! Don't go!"** Naruto laughed. "I knew that would get your attention. So, I take it you're interested?"

Kyuubi nodded vigorously. **"Hell yeah! The only thing I've felt in fourteen years was that pain you caused me earlier. I would give anything to be free of this damn seal." **Naruto grinned. "Well, then. Lucky for you, I know a way to get you out. It involves using a large amount of your youki to create a flesh and blood body for you, and transfer your consciousness into that body. However, four tails of your power will be permanently lost in the transfer. Are you willing to do this?"

Kyuubi didn't hesitate. **"I'll do it! When can we get started?" **Naruto answered, "Well, the power output of the transfer would undoubtedly be noticed immediately, so I want to wait until we can leave the village. I'll wait for a C-rank. It'll probably be about a month."

Kyuubi narrowed her eyes. **"How do you know I won't attack you when I get out?" **Naruto replied, "During the transfer procedure, I'm going to place a seal on your body that prevents you from attacking me or anybody I order you not to. If you do, the seal will activate and kill you."

Kyuubi nodded in understanding. Naruto turned to leave, saying, "Well, I'll be going now. It's almost morning. I'll talk to you in a month."

"**Wait!" ** Naruto turned back around to see Kyuubi trying to hide a blush. **"Umm, before you go, do you think you could establish a sort of mental connection or something? It gets boring in here, and I'd like to at least have someone to talk to." **Naruto nodded and walked u to the cage. He reached up to the piece of paper that was the seal, and tore off a small corner. He felt a small tingle in the back of his head, and faded from his mind.

He opened his eyes to find himself sitting back on his couch, at home. He searched his mind, and found that he could slightly feel Kyuubi's presence in the back of his mind. 'Can you hear me?' he asked. **'Yeah, I can hear you.' **Kyuubi responded. Gathering his things, Naruto left the house, and flew up into the air. He began heading towards the training ground, enjoying the warm sun on his face.

And there is the first chapter of my new masterpiece. First, to answer any questions you may have.

**Naruto will be paired with Kyuubi in this story.**

**Naruto's vampire powers mostly come from Hellsing, but he wont be as strong as Alucard for quite a while.**

**Yes, I did mean Abbadon from Darksiders. In this story, that game never happened, and Abbadon was the leader of the angels until he and Alucard killed each other.**

**No, Naruto does not hate his father.**

**No, I have no plans to make this a harem story.**

**Naruto will not be learning Hiraishin, although he will be making several variations of the Rasengan.**

**Yes, Naruto does hold a grudge against Sarutobi.**

**Naruto is about Mid-ANBU level in strength right now, but he will be getting stronger.**

**In this story, Amaterasu and Tsukiyomi are the only Gods, aside from the Shinigami.**

**I won't bash Sakura and Sasuke, but they definitely won't be likeable characters. Same goes for the Civilian council.**

**And finally, I will NEVER give up on either of my stories. I will be paying slightly more attention to this one however. It's just more fun to write.**

**Well, that's all. Next chapter is the Wave mission, so get ready for that. Adios, Bitches.**

**Don't Fear the Reaper,**

**Kumo no Shinigami**


	2. Chapter 2

Hello! God, this story is just so much fun to write! I love making Naruto a sadistic badass. Anyway, this chapter is the start of the wave mission, which will probably take anywhere from one to three chapters. Also in this chapter, everybody's favorite vixen finally gets some fresh air! By the way, just so you know, I really suck at making up names, so I mostly borrow from other anime. Anyway, let's get started.

"The only way of finding the limits of the possible if by going beyond them into the impossible."

It had been a long month for Naruto and his team, and the constant D-rank missions had not made the time pass any quicker. On the bright side, however, they had finally managed to reach the quota of thirty D-ranks to be able to accept a C-rank. So now they stood in the Missions office, demanding a C-rank.

Iruka, however, had other ideas.

"No way! You three barely graduated a month ago. There's no way you three could be ready." He shouted. All four members of Team Seven, plus Aizen glared at Iruka. Kakashi spoke up first. "Iruka, you obviously haven't heard about how Naruto almost killed me without so much as breaking a sweat, have you?" Iruka looked at him confusedly. "Ehh…Wha…?" Naruto spoke up next. "Not to mention the fact that I literally have an army of angels and vampires I can summon at will." Aizen added in, "Don't forget dragons!" Naruto nodded. "Exactly." Kakashi said, "I pity the bandit that tries to attack this team." Aizen added, "Even most ninja wouldn't be a problem."

Iruka raised a hand to stop them. "Alright, alright. Geez, are you guys trying to get a C-rank, or an S-rank? Here." He handed them a scroll. "Your mission is to escort a bridge builder to Nami no Kuni and protect him while he finishes building his bridge. Tazuna-san, you may enter."

The door opened, and an old man who smelled of sake and carried a sake bottle (surprise, surprise) entered the room and said, "Are these the people guarding me? Why does that one have a duck on his head? Is that pink thing coming too?" he said in a drunken slur. Naruto and Aizen began laughing hysterically. Sasuke said, "I swear to God, if one more person says that…"

Naruto grinned and said, "I like this old geezer." Tazuna left to get his stuff, and the Genin were instructed to meet back at the gate in an hour.

An hour and a half later, and Kakashi still hadn't shown up. Sakura, of course, hadn't stopped complaining. Naruto had started talking to Kyuubi to block out Sakura's voice. Over the past month Naruto and Kyuubi had become friends. Most nights, Naruto would retreat into his mindscape and hang out with Kyuubi. Inside his mind, they did all sorts of things. Basketball, soccer, hockey, you name it. If it was competitive, they would play.

One thing Naruto had learned about Kyuubi: she was a shameless flirt. One night, she had suggested they play strip poker. When Naruto pointed out that she was barely wearing anything as it was, she just winked. Naruto's blush took an hour to fade. Occasionally, however, Naruto would catch her staring at him while blushing out of the corner of his eye. He wondered why.

'Hey, Kyuu. We finally got a C-rank. You're almost out of there.' He thought to her. **'Kick ass! I can't wait to get out of this place!' **she replied. 'So, have you thought about what you want to do once you get out?' Naruto asked. **"Err, not exactly, no. But I'll think of something.' **

Back outside his mind, Naruto noticed Kakashi strolling up, his nose buried in his book. "Yo." He greeted casually. Sakura screamed at him, as usual, and they made their way down the road away from Konoha.

As they were walking, Sakura asked Tazuna, "So, Tazuna-san. Do they have ninja in your country?" Naruto answered for him, "No, Sakura. If they did, he would have hired them. Now shut up, and don't ask stupid questions."

They continued along the road for a while, until Naruto noticed a puddle by the side of the road. He looked at Kakashi, and saw that he had noticed it too. As they neared the puddle, Naruto quickly drew his sword and stabbed then puddle. Out of it came two men wearing gauntlets that were attached by a chain of shuriken. One of the men was bleeding from a stab wound in his shoulder.

They quickly rushed at the group, but were stopped by Naruto slashing at them with his katana. They growled at him, trying to intimidate him. Naruto just pulled out his gun, shooting the injured one in the heart and killing him. The other one released the chain from his gauntlet and rushed at Naruto, shouting, "I'll kill you for that!" The man jumped up in the air, trying to slash at Naruto from above, but this was what Naruto was waiting for. When the man came down, he was impaled in the gut by Naruto's sword. Naruto leaned in to whisper in the man's ear. "Now you die." Naruto quickly plunged his fangs into the screaming man's neck, drinking his blood until there was none left. Naruto could feel his body coursing with strength, and felt the man's memories enter his mind. When he finished, the man was just a dry husk.

Naruto walked over to the corpse of the other man, and repeated the process. When he finished, the blood that was on his face, and that had run down his chin was seemingly absorbed into his skin. "Ah, that was refreshing." He licked the blood from his sword, before turning back towards his team, who were looking at him in horror. "What? I told you I was half vampire." He sheathed his sword and walked back to his team.

Sakura looked at him with fear. "Y-you were serious?" Naruto rolled his eyes. "Duh. It's ironic how the truth is often more unbelievable than lies, don't you think?" Sakura continued staring at him. "We all thought you were joking. Those wings are…real? You're really not human?" Naruto nodded. "That's right! Isn't that great?"

Sakura looked to the two dried corpses sitting at the side of the road, her face pale. "You…you killed them." Naruto gave her a hard look. "That's what ninja do, Sakura. We kill people. If you don't kill your enemy, then they'll sure as hell kill you." She nodded, giving one last look to the two bodies.

Kakashi cleared his throat. "If we could please get back to the pressing matter? Regardless of how easily they were defeated, those were Chunin level nuke-nin from Kiri. That bumps this mission up to at least a B-rank. Can you tell me why there are ninja after you, Tazuna?"

Tazuna sighed, and began to explain. "Well, you see, my about a year ago, a man named Gato came to my country, and started taking control of all trade in and out of the country. Now, he controls everything, and the people are suffering. Even the Daimyo can't do anything. But this bridge I'm working on would connect us to the mainland and save our country. But Gato doesn't want that. He likes being in control. You see, he may be a legitimate businessman on the surface, but his company is a front for all kinds of illegal activity. Drugs, smuggling, human trafficking, you name it. He makes an example of anyone who dares to speak against him, and the people are afraid for their lives. He's tried several times to sabotage my bridge, so I had to hire ninjas to fight the ones he sent after me. Please, will you help me and my country?" (Yeah, I used the same explanation from my other story. Big whoop, wanna fight about it?)

Kakashi looked to his team. "It's up to you. Do you want to continue, or go back?" "I'm going, regardless of your decisions." Naruto said. He and Aizen walked over to stand next to Tazuna. Tazuna laughed. "I have the vampire and the dragon on my side, you guys could probably head back." He joked.

Sasuke also walked over to Tazuna. "I'm going." He said. Sakura, of course, followed Sasuke without hesitation. Kakashi eye smiled. "Well then, Tazuna. It looks like the mission proceeds." Tazuna sighed in relief. "Thank you all very much." They were about to continue, when Naruto walked back over to the two corpses. He cut their heads off, burning their bodies. He sealed their heads in a scroll he got from seemingly nowhere, and walked back to his team.

Kakashi looked at him funny. "Where'd you get that scroll from? I know you weren't carrying it with you." Naruto shrugged. "Shadow storage."

"What does that mean?" Kakashi asked. Naruto simply held up the scroll and dropped it into the shadow if a tree. Instead of hitting the ground, it seemed to fall _through _the shadow, vanishing. Everybody's eyes widened. "Now that's cool." Tazuna said. Naruto grinned. "I can store anything I want, and I can recall it from any shadow."

They all continued walking down the road, with nothing eventful happening until they came to sea. There was a man with a boat there waiting for them, and they all piled into the boat. They began to quickly move away from the shore. When they got closer to the island, however, they had to cut the engines so as to not be spotted. After a while, they were able to see a large bridge to their side. They all marveled at how large it was, Tazuna looking at it with pride.

Eventually, they made it to the shore, stepping off the boat. Tazuna thanked the man, who quickly rowed away. They continued down the road a ways, until Sasuke suddenly threw a kunai into the bushes. Naruto looked over to see what Sasuke hit, to see a small rabbit lying dead, a kunai in its head. He narrowed his eyes. "A white rabbit, in summer?" he walked back to his team, when suddenly, Kakashi yelled, "Get down!"

Naruto turned to see a giant zanbatou spinning through the air towards him. Quickly, he drew his sword, the blade glowing brightly as he did. The blade changed in mid swing into a giant Zanbatou, seven feet long and pure black, with a single glowing red vein along the length of the blade. The blade was straight, and double-edged. On one side of the blade, at the tip, it had spikes running down for about a foot, angling back towards is wrist. Each of these spikes was colored red.

When Naruto completed his swing, the sword had changed into that zanbatou, knocking the other one away from him. Naruto whistled appreciatively, running his fingers along the razor-sharp blade. He tossed the sword in the air, catching it like it weighed nothing. He grinned evilly to himself. The other zanbatou had been knocked into a tree, and a strange looking man suddenly appeared standing on it.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the man. "Momochi Zabuza, Demon of the Bloody Mist. A-rank Jounin level nuke-nin of Kiri." Zabuza laughed sinisterly. "So, the great Sharingan Kakashi has heard of me, eh? I'm flattered. Hand over the old man. And you can leave."

As Kakashi was about to fight him, Naruto stepped in his way. "This one's mine, Kakashi." He said darkly. Knowing better than to argue with him when he got like this, Kakashi just stepped back as Naruto faced Zabuza.

As they stood apart from each other, Naruto suddenly swung his sword horizontally, sending a black wave of destructive energy at Zabuza. Zabuza's eyes widened as he jumped over the wave. He saw three more coming towards him quickly, followed by Naruto. After dodging the waves, He had to deal with Naruto, who was swinging his zanbatou with such force, that it hurt to block. As Zabuza dodged a slash that would have taken his head off, he was suddenly covered by a large shadow. Looking up, he saw Aizen swooping down on him from above.

The large dragon tried to grab Zabuza in his claws as he passed by, but missed. Zabuza retreated to the surface of the lake, hoping to get an advantage, but Naruto just kept bombarding him with long range attacks. Figuring that he was safe as long as he could dodge these attacks, he was surprised to see Naruto flex his wings and jump into the sky. His blood ran cold as he saw Naruto swooping down on him, eyes glowing like fire, with his large Zanbatou poised to strike. Naruto fell down from above, crashing into Zabuza and creating a huge splash of water.

The force of the slash nearly severed Zabuza's right arm, breaking his left arm completely, and throwing Zabuza back against a tree. He looked at Naruto with fear in his eyes. "Who…who are you?" he asked with a trembling voice. Naruto looked at him, his eyes still burning. "I am the one who walks between the light and the shadow. I am the master of night and day! I am **THE HALF-NIGHT KING!**" He roared in a demonic voice. He swung his Zanbatou, intending to finish Zabuza, but was surprised when he was seemingly killed by several senbon in his neck.

From nowhere appeared a young boy in a hunter-nin mask, crouching next to Zabuza's body. He said, "Thank you for weakening him. I have been looking for an opportunity to take him out for a while now." The boy grabbed Zabuza and vanished. Naruto simply sheathed his sword, which had returned to a katana, and strolled back to his team, who were once again completely stunned.

Naruto looked to Kakashi and said, "Zabuza is still alive. A hunter-nin is supposed to destroy the body on site, cutting off the head. Also, the placement of those senbon couldn't have killed him. However, with the state of disrepair I left him in, I doubt he'll be troubling us further. His arm will most likely have to be amputated."

Kakashi looked at him funny. "How do you know all that?" Naruto rolled his eyes. "I do a lot of reading. Yami Bunshin are very useful in gathering information." Kakashi just nodded, not really knowing what that meant.

They looked at Tazuna, and Kakashi asked, "Is your home near here?" Tazuna nodded. "Yeah, just down the road." He replied. They all followed him as he lead he way.

Soon, they came to a house near the water. It wasn't too big, only two stories, but it looked nice enough. They entered the house with Tazuna leading the way. He called out, "I'm home!" A young woman with long black hair entered the room and hugged Tazuna. She bowed to the ninja and said, "Thank you for bringing my father home. My name is Tsunami, I'm Tazuna's daughter."

Kakashi eye smiled and said, "No problem."

After eating dinner with Tazuna and his family, the ninja all prepared to go to bed. Except Naruto, of course. As Sasuke, who he was bunking with, crawled into his bed, and proceeded to snore loudly, Naruto hopped out the window, spreading his wings and taking off into the night.

Naruto flew several miles away from the house; to a place where he was sure the chakra output would not be felt. He created several Yami Bunshin to begin setting up the complex seal he had been studying. 'You ready for this, Kyuu?' he asked. **'Yeah, I'm ready. I just have one question. Will my new body be demon, or human?'**

Naruto answered, 'Demon. It is going to be created out of youki, after all. Okay, it's time to get started!' he formed a strange seal with his hands, reaching inside himself to pull out Kyuubi's youki. The complex seal he was standing in the middle of began to glow brightly. As he grunted with the exertion of pulling out more and more youki, it began to take shape in the middle of the seal. The large ball of youki was distinctly human shaped, and noticeably female.

The mass of youki began to glow brightly as Naruto felt the seal take effect. Letting go of the Youki, he saw it swirl around the form, before condensing on the glowing shape. Finally, it stopped. In the center of the seal stood Kyuubi in her human form, completely naked. Naruto's seal was a complex pattern around her neck, preventing her from harming him.

Finally, she opened her eyes. Naruto suddenly felt himself get tackled by Kyuubi, who was sobbing into his chest, thanking him over and over. He grabbed him by the head and kissed him on the lips, her tongue diving eagerly into his mouth. They lay on the grass for a while, making out, before Kyuubi finally released him.

She got to her feet, forming clothes out of her youki. She wore a black T-shirt with a red flame on the front, stretched tight against her chest. Her pants were baggy and black like Naruto's. However, her feet were bare.

Naruto, who was suffering blood loss from having a naked, and very beautiful woman make out with him, got slowly to his feet, the blood on his face being absorbed back into his skin. Kyuubi looked at him while smiling and said, "Hot damn, it feels good to be free!"

Naruto chuckled. "I'll say." He scooped Kyuubi up into his arms, and jumped into the air, flying back towards the house. Having nothing else to do, they just laid down on the roof, staring at the stars. Naruto looked at Kyuubi. "So, what are you gonna do now?" he asked. Kyuubi shrugged. "Just stick with you, I guess. Although I don't think the Hokage will allow me back in the village."

Naruto nodded. "You have a point. However, if I adopt you into my clan, then there's nothing they could do to you." Kyuubi looked at him. "What do you mean?" Naruto chuckled. "Allow me to explain."

(Flashback)

It was about a week after Academy graduation, And Naruto had been summoned to the Hokage's office. He stood before Sarutobi's desk, glaring at him with his arms crossed. "You wanted something?" he asked.

Sarutobi gave Naruto a smile. "Naruto, I realize that what I did was wrong. I should have told you about your family. I was just too paranoid that the secret would get out. I thought I was protecting you, when in reality I was only hurting you. Please accept my sincere apologies. In order to mend the broken trust, I want to give you a peace offering, of sorts."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "What kind of peace offering?" Sarutobi handed him a scroll. Naruto opened it, reading what was inside. His eyes widened. "Full privileges of a clan head, as well as a seat on the council when I make Chunin?" Sarutobi smiled at him. "That means that anybody you adopt into your clan will be safe from the reach of the council. I only ask that you wait to reveal your heritage until you make Chunin." Naruto looked at him. "Fine then. I'll accept your apology." The two of them then shook hands.

(Flashback end)

Kyuubi looked happy. "So when we return to the village, I'll be safe?" Naruto nodded. Kyuubi squealed and hugged him. "Bitchin!" A light seemed to go off above her head. "Shit! I almost forgot!" She leapt down to the ground, and with a wave of her hand, opened a glowing portal of red swirling energy. She reached inside, pulling out a strange looking sword. She considered it for a moment, before tossing it away. She pulled out dozens more weapons, looking at each before rejecting it and tossing it away. Finally she exclaimed, "Aha!" and pulled out one final weapon.

It was a long whip, made from red leather with spikes along the length of it. Kyuubi channeled some of her youki into it, and the whip burst into flames. She twirled it above her head before wrapping it around the trunk of a tree and yanking. The whip cut through the tree easily, toppling it. Kyuubi cut the stream of youki to it, extinguishing the flames, before wrapping the whip up and hanging it at her waist.

She grinned. "Damn, it feels good to have my old weapon back." She snapped her fingers, and all of the other weapons went flying back into the portal, and it closed. She turned to Naruto, grinning viciously. "Come on. We're gonna spar." Naruto matched her grin. "Alright, but I wont be holding back." "Bring it!" Kyuubi shouted. The two of them charged at each other, wreaking a path of destruction through the forest the entire night.

The next day

After seven straight hours of fighting, the two of them had collapsed from exhaustion in the forest. They were forced to call it a draw, and were now making their way through the destroyed forest. While walking back, they spotted a building, hidden in the forest. Naruto grinned. 'I had planned on finding them later, but now is as good a time as ever.'

He told Kyuubi to wait outside, and snuck up to the building.

Inside the building

Haku sat in a chair, watching as Zabuza moved in his sleep. He had developed an infection in his wounds, and had been asleep for hours now. Haku had no idea how to treat him, and frankly, he was scared. He was scared of his teacher and father figure dying. He was scared of being left all alone, being chased by hunter-nin his whole life.

As he moved to wipe the sweat from Zabuza's brow, he heard a voice behind him. "Zabuza's not looking very well." He quickly turned, senbon in hand, to see the silver haired boy who had put Zabuza in his current state. He growled in anger. "What do _you _want? Come to finish us off?"

Naruto raised a hand to calm him. "No, nothing like that. I came to offer you a deal." The two of them heard someone speak, "What kind of deal?" Haku turned to zee Zabuza with his eyes open, sitting up partway in his bed. "Zabuza-sama!" Haku yelled, rushing to his side. Zabuza waved him off, focusing on Naruto. Naruto replied, "I will heal your wounds, under the condition that you agree to join me and return to Konoha with me."

Zabuza looked at him, considering the offer. "You can really heal my wounds? What about my arm?" "I assure you, the arm will be no problem to fix." Naruto replied. Zabuza thought it over some more. "What about Haku? Where does he fit into this?" Naruto answered, "He will come with us, and receive the same gift I'm giving to you." Zabuza raised his eyebrows. "Gift?" Naruto smirked. "You'll see." Zabuza sighed, before nodding. "Fine. Heal my wounds, give us your gift or whatever, and we'll join you." Haku nodded as well, consenting to the plan.

Naruto grinned. "Excellent. This will be easier if you go back to sleep first." Zabuza nodded, and closed his eyes. Soon, he was asleep. Naruto leaned down, peeling the bandages away from Zabuza's neck, before sinking his fangs into the soft flesh. Naruto's canines were hollow, allowing Naruto to transfer his venom via bite. The interesting part about vampire venom was that it took a specific amount to change someone into a vampire. Too much venom, and someone would go into cardiac arrest and die. To little, and they would only be left with a superior regeneration ability and a tendency to get sunburns. So, Naruto had to be careful in measuring the amount of venom he pumped into Zabuza's bloodstream.

When Naruto stepped away from Zabuza, he could see steam rising from his body. Haku noticed it too. "What's that steam?" He asked. Naruto answered, "That is his body fighting off the infection and repairing his wounds. See? You can already see it taking effect." Haku looked closely at Zabuza's wounds, and saw that Naruto was right. He could already see many of Zabuza's smaller wounds closing before his eyes.

"Wow. That's amazing." Haku commented. Naruto nodded. "Yes, vampiric regeneration really is amazing. There was once a vampire named Alucard who could regenerate his entire body from a puddle of blood." Haku looked at him, alarmed. "Wait, vampire?"

Naruto nodded. "Yes. I am actually half angel, half vampire. That's where the wings come from." Haku nodded. "Oh, I was wondering about those. So, you turned Zabuza-sama into a vampire?" "Yes. And now, it's your turn. Do you want to be asleep? It will take longer, but you won't feel any pain." Haku shook his head. "No. I'll stay awake. Do you think you could tell me a little about vampires? I mean, like abilities and things."

Naruto rubbed his chin for a moment. "Well, lets see…Increased mental capacity, senses, strength, speed, agility, and reflexes, control over shadows, and, to a certain extent, wind, rapid regeneration, extremely high pain threshold, and the ability to absorb the souls and memories of the people whose blood you drink. Although you have to kill them to absorb their souls. You can also summon the souls out to fight with you. Also, extremely long life while retaining youth and vitality. Nobody knows how long a vampire can live, really. There are also several other abilities that vampires can have, but they take centuries, and thousands of souls to develop."

Haku looked impressed. "What about weaknesses?" "Hmm…I don't really know. The whole 'aversion to sunlight' thing is just a myth. Vampires just tend to have antisocial personalities towards humans. Although, prolonged exposure to sunlight does cause headaches, and occasionally nausea. But they don't burst into flames of anything. Same with garlic, silver, and holy water. That's all bullshit. One thing you need to know, though. When a vampire is 'killed', so to speak, they may consume one of the souls inside their body to fully heal themselves. This isn't true immortality, as they can still die if killed enough times. There is some debate about this however, as the vampire I told you about earlier, Alucard, was once able to heal himself after all the souls inside his body had been used up."

Haku looked at him. "What happened to this Alucard person?" he asked. Naruto replied, "He and the leader of the angels, Abbadon, killed each other in battle. You see, up until four years ago, there had been a centuries-long war going on between the angels, and the vampires. The war was ended, and a truce formed due to the creation of a hybrid of the two races, which was me. The souls of both Abbadon and Alucard were absorbed into my own, giving me their power, which I have not yet fully unlocked. It seems oddly poetic, the strongest vampire in history, and the strongest angel in history, killing each other in battle only to be joined together to create me, bringing peace."

Haku nodded in agreement. "So, what kind of angelic abilities do you have?" he questioned. "Well, flight, obviously. Control over light, and fire to a smaller extent, the ability to heal others, and the ability to judge someone's soul at death, absolving them of their sins or condemning them. We also can tell how long someone has to live. I have also heard that Abbadon performed some incredible miracles in his life. Other than that, it's the same increased mental capacity, senses, strength, speed, agility, reflexes, pain threshold, regeneration, and long life as vampires. Any more questions?"

Haku nodded. "One, actually. Those other vampiric abilities you spoke of, have any vampires ever managed to achieve them?" Naruto nodded. "Yes, quite a few of the older vampires have those abilities. However, none are as strong as Alucard was, and since his soul is a part of me, I will eventually inherit his power. I have no idea how to go about doing that, though."

Haku stood up. "Alright. I'm ready to begin the transformation." Naruto nodded and moved over to Haku, leaning in to his neck. He sank his fangs in and pumped the appropriate amount of venom into the bloodstream. Haku clenched his fists in concentration. It felt like fire running through his veins. The venom reached his heart, and he let out a gasp. He collapsed to his knees as he felt the change taking hold. His heartbeat became steadily slower as his body began to change. His eyes changed to a deep red. His teeth became fangs and his nails became claws. His hair became several shades lighter, leaving it a gray color. His skin became pale and his muscles became more dense and compacted. As the change completed, Haku felt his heart beat one last time, before stopping forever.

He slowly got to his feet, taking in his surroundings with his new senses. He could see every detail on every surface, his eyes following movement with ease, and illuminating the darkness. He could hear the entire forest, every creature, and he could smell their blood, knowing exactly where to find them. He could even feel the subtle changes in air currents around him. "You didn't mention everything would be this…vivid." He said. He noticed that his voice sounded deeper than before. He looked in a nearby mirror and saw that his features looked much more masculine. He let his hair down, letting it fall about his head and face, and found that he liked the way it looked. It was a little longer than shoulder length, and was a few shades lighter than black. He removed his feminine looking clothing, creating new clothing from the shadows. He now wore pants and boots like Naruto, but with a deep red vest, left open to show his muscles. He created a pair of gauntlets that protected his forearms and hands, but left his fingers and palms uncovered. They also had slots for senbon on them. All in all, he looked completely different

"Much better." He said with a smirk. He turned to Naruto. "How do I look? He asked. Naruto grinned. "Vampiric. Also, less like a chick." They heard a groaning sound from beside them, and turned to see Zabuza sitting up. He had gone through similar physical changes to Haku. He had the same eye color as Haku, but his hair had stayed black. It had grown a little longer, though.

He stood up, taking in his surroundings with his new senses. He looked at Haku, his eyes widening. "Haku? What the hell happened to you?" He looked in the mirror. "And to me, for that matter?"

Haku explained to Zabuza everything that Naruto had told him, and when he finished, Zabuza was impressed. "Damn, kid." He said to Naruto. "You weren't kidding when you said it wouldn't be a problem, were you? Judging by the light, it's been like, what, forty minutes?" Zabuza picked up his zanbatou and twirled it around, marveling at how light it was to him now.

Naruto got a sinking feeling in his gut. He had forgotten about Kyuubi. He leaned his head out the window, signaling to Kyuubi that she could come inside. She entered the house, glaring at Naruto. "What the hell were you thinking, leaving me out there for so long?" she demanded. Naruto just gestured to the two new vampires and said, "These two will be joining us." Kyuubi just nodded in understanding, while Naruto cheered on the inside. 'I can't believe that worked!' he thought.

Naruto reached into a shadow, pulling out several blood packs. He handed them to Haku and Zabuza, saying, "Here. These will hold you over for now. Fresh blood is better, however. I would recommend going into the forest to hunt some animals. Don't bother with the meat, you can't eat regular food anymore." He focused some energy, and the moon on the back of his right hand began to glow purple.

In front of Naruto appeared a tall woman. She was wearing Victorian style clothing underneath a long red duster. Her blonde hair was covered by a red fedora with a wide, floppy brim, and she wore round, yellow tinted sunglasses over her red eyes. She carried a large gun at her side. She bowed to Naruto saying, "My Lord. How may I serve you?"

Naruto replied, "Hello, Seras. I need you to watch over these two newborns for the next week and help them get used to their new abilities. I trust you are up to the task?" Seras nodded, saying, "Of course, my Lord." Naruto bid them all farewell and melted away into smoke with Kyuubi.

Back at Tazuna's house, Kakashi, Sakura, and Sasuke were eating breakfast and wondering where Naruto had gone off to, when he and a girl suddenly appeared in the room. Kakashi looked at Kyuubi. "Whose this, Naruto?" he asked. Naruto replied, "A girl I recently adopted into my clan. If you didn't know I had a clan, then that's probably because it isn't any of your business, and you should stop asking. If you want to know more, talk to the Hokage. He then sat down at the table, grabbing a piece of bacon. "All you need to know is that her name is Kyuu, and she's coming with us back to Konoha."

Kakashi just shook his head, knowing he wasn't going to get any more information. "Whatever. Hey, I need a favor. I've never been too good at splitting my attention between people; so training a team kinda sucks for me. Do you think you could help me out by showing Sakura a few things while I help Sasuke?" Naruto thought to himself. 'Hmm, this could be a great chance to break Sakura of her fangirl mindset, as well as make her a bit less useless to the team.' Naruto nodded. "Fine. But you owe me one." Naruto created some Yami bunshin and sent them off to practice the Rasengan. He had actually mastered it already, but still, it never hurt to practice.

Kakashi lead them into a clearing a ways into the forest, one of the ones that wasn't destroyed, and lead Sasuke off to the side, leaving Sakura with Naruto. Sakura looked at the winged boy nervously, wondering what kind of training he was going to have her do. She nearly jumped when he spoke to her. "Alright, what I'm gonna have you do first is an exercise called tree walking. This exercise involves focusing chakra to the bottom of your feet, and keeping it there. This allows you to stick to any surface. Watch." He demonstrated the technique on a nearby tree, walking up it and standing underneath a branch. "As you can see, this skill also allows you to hang upside down."

He dropped down, and motioned for Sakura to try. "It's easier if you walk." He advised. "Place one foot on the tree at a time, until you can find the correct amount of chakra to use." Sakura walked up to the tree, placing one foot after another on the tree. She managed to make it to the top without falling. However, she seemed to run out of chakra, and fell off the tree. She fell towards the ground screaming, but several black tendrils shot out of the shadows and caught her, setting her on the ground. She sighed in relief.

"How did I do?" she asked. "You have good chakra control, but low reserves. I have something I want you to take." He pulled out a small blue pill, handing it to Sakura. "That is a pill invented by vampires for God knows what purpose. It forcibly expands the chakra coils of a human, doubling, or even tripling their chakra reserves. I have no idea why vampires would invent something like this. Probably an accidental discovery. Anyways, I want you to take this. There will be some pain, but it will be worth it."

Sakura took the pill uncertainly, putting it in her mouth and swallowing. Immediately, she felt pain coursing throughout her entire body, as if something was pushing outwards from inside her. As quickly as it began, the pain faded. She could feel the chakra inside her, more than she had ever had.

"Looks like your chakra tripled. The excellent thing about these pills is that they allow you to keep your previous level of control over your chakra. Now, we can move on to other things. Here. Channel your chakra into this." He handed her a small, square piece of paper. "This will tell you what your elemental affinity is." Sakura accepted the paper, putting chakra into it. Half of the paper got wet, and half crumbled to dust.

Sakura looked at the paper. "That means I have earth and water, right?" she asked. Naruto nodded. "Yes. Hold on a minute, I have something here…" he retrieved two scrolls from his shadow, handing them to Sakura. "These scrolls contain a few Doton and Suiton jutsu. Nothing above C-rank, but still useful in a fight if you apply them correctly. There is also one other jutsu I want to show you. This is called the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. It allows you to create physical copies of your self that send whatever knowledge they gain back to you when they dispel. They are useful for training, if you have the chakra to make them. I'd say you have enough chakra to make about…five, and still have enough to train with."

Naruto showed her the hand sign for the jutsu, and she activated it, producing five solid clones. He nodded in approval before handing Sakura a third scroll. "This is a taijutsu scroll. It contains an old style called the Hidden Fist, which is a good style for you because physical strength is not necessary. The style relies on pressure points, and using an enemy's strength against them. Study it while the clones read the jutsu scrolls. Oh, and another thing. While you don't need freakish strength to use this style, I would still recommend putting on some muscle. That means stop dieting and worrying about your looks. And for the love of God, get a haircut." Sakura was about to protest, but he interrupted her. "Think of it this way. Sasuke will never love you if you're weak. Besides, I hear he likes short hair."

Sakura's eyes widened as she quickly drew a kunai and slashed off her long hair. She and her clones quickly opened the scrolls and began reading. After reading about the taijutsu style, she quickly began practicing the basic stances, while her clones poured over the jutsu scrolls.

Naruto sweatdropped. 'Not exactly what I was expecting, but oh well.' He shrugged and went to check on his Yami Bunshin, wondering what Sasuke was being taught.

Meanwhile, with Sasuke

Sasuke fell off of the tree for what had to be the hundredth time. He kicked at it in frustration. "Fucking tree!" he yelled. As he kicked it, a branch fell off of the tree, hitting him in the head.

I've said it once, and I'll say it again: I love writing this story! I felt like I packed to much stuff into the last chapter, so I tried to slow it down in this one. I know it seems like Naruto let Kyuubi off easy by letting her out, but he felt it was smarter to have a powerful ally, than to have an enemy stuck in his gut. Chapter three, coming soon. Keep those reviews rolling!

Don't Fear the Reaper,

Kumo no Shinigami


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello, everybody. This chapter will probably be the end of the Wave mission. I tried to stretch it out as far as I could, but it really isn't that important with regards to the overall plot of the story, excluding Zabuza and Haku. **

**Earlier, I got a review for this story saying that I should tone down Naruto's strength a bit. I disagree. As I've stated before, I like writing Naruto as a total badass. That said, there will still be people who can kick his ass, not kill him mind you, but at least match his strength. If any of you are fans of Hellsing, you know that Alucard is a Badass Motherfucker. With Naruto slowly absorbing his powers, he's bound to only get stronger as time goes on. Anyway, time to start the story.**

"Man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed, but not defeated."

It had been six days since Team Seven had arrived in Nami no Kuni, and they had been very busy. Between guarding Tazuna, they had all focused on training. After Sasuke finished the tree walking exercise, he retreated to simply practicing his clan's Katon jutsu and trying to spy on Naruto, the latter of which he always failed at.

Under Naruto's tutelage, Sakura had progressed far. At least, compared to her previous level of strength. She had managed to learn several of the jutsu on the scrolls she had been given, although she was far from mastering them. She was managing well in the taijutsu department as well, thanks to the twice-daily spars with Naruto. She had yet to land a hit on him, but she was getting better at reading the moves of her opponents and waiting for them to strike before counter-attacking.

Naruto had suggested that she use senbon in conjunction with her taijutsu, and she had seemed interested. He had given her a pair of gauntlets in the style he had seen Haku make for himself, only Sakura's had small, half-inch spikes on the knuckles. Naruto had given her a medical textbook to study, so she could learn the pressure points. She had poured over that quickly, although she had yet to apply the knowledge in battle. All in all, Naruto could honestly say that she was now Genin level.

Naruto's own training had progressed somewhat further as well. While testing an idea he had for a variation of the Rasengan, the ball of compressed chakra exploded violently outwards, blowing his right hand to pieces and covering his body in burns. He absorbed one of the souls inside him, healing his wounds, but found that he felt a bit light-headed afterwards, with a bit of a migraine. He grinned, knowing what this meant. He had gained access to a bit more of Alucard's vampiric power.

He looked towards a small boulder in the clearing he was in. following his instincts, he reached out with his mind, lifting the boulder into the air. His grin grew wider. Using his new telekinesis, he hurled the boulder away from him, testing how far he could throw it. It sailed far above the treetops, out of his line of sight.

He had trained with that ability, creating Yami bunshin to throw all manner of projectiles at him, attempting to stop them with his mind. He found he could not stop jutsu, however, or weapons charged with chakra. He frowned. He was glad that he was getting stronger, but he liked a little challenge in his battles, something he was having trouble finding lately. He took great pleasure in his spars with Kyuubi, since she always provided a challenge for him.

Aside from those things, he had taken the time to become more familiar with the dragons. He learned the different types of dragons, their abilities, and he knew at least half of the dragon clan by name now. He had become very popular with them, since he had taken the time to get to know them, unlike some summoners they had had in the past, who just used them for battle.

Naruto had also caught Tazuna's grandson Inari following him around several times, giving him strange looks. Naruto growled as he thought about the first time Inari had spoken to any of Team Seven.

**(Flashback)**

Team Seven was sitting with Tazuna's family, eating dinner, when suddenly, Inari threw down his silverware, shouting, "I can't take it anymore! Why do you all train so hard? Gato's just going to kill you! You can't stand up to him! Everybody who does gets killed!"

Naruto looked at the boy with a glare. "There is nothing that Gato can do to us. All he is is a coward hiding behind his money and his thugs. Make no mistake; I will kill Gato. He will pay for his sins. You may have had a difficult life, but that does not give you the right to judge us, or anyone else for that matter."

Inari just stood up and shouted, "What do you know about having a difficult life? You've lived in a big village your whole life, safe and happy! You know nothing of pain!" The room suddenly began to feel very cold. The lights began to dim and the shadows began to swirl around Naruto's form.

Naruto spoke in a demonic voice, **"I know nothing of pain? Up until four years ago, my life was nothing but pain! Unless you count three hundred and eighty-one attempted assassinations by the age of four 'safe and happy'? Or perhaps, the constant beatings, insults, stealing and destroying what little possessions I had? Do you think those made me feel 'safe and happy'? DO YOU!" **Inari frantically shook his head, eyes wide while he tried to cower in his chair.

Naruto stormed out of the house, wreaking a path of destruction through the forest for the rest of the night.

**(Flashback end)**

Naruto brought his mind back to the present moment, finding himself outside of Zabuza and Haku's hideout. Tomorrow was the day Tazuna's bridge was due to be completed, and he wanted to go over the plan for tomorrow. Basically, Team Seven would show up at the bridge, Haku and Zabuza would be waiting there, and then presumably Gato would show up to betray them, most likely with an army of mercenaries. They would then kill the mercenaries and Gato, and everybody would go home happy.

Naruto knocked on the door before pushing it open and entering. Zabuza and Haku were each maintaining a ball of shadows in their hands, while Seras observed. When Seras saw Naruto, she stood and bowed. "My Lord. These two have made much progress in their abilities. They have both mastered shadow manipulation, and have gotten used to their new bodies."

Naruto nodded at her, saying, "Good job, Seras. You are dismissed." Seras bowed once more before Vanishing into the shadows. Haku looked at the place where she vanished. "Who was she?" he asked. "She didn't really say anything to us except during training."

"Seras is my second in command in charge of the vampires. She and Alucard were close, and she has been a bit distant since he died, or so I'm told. Her counterpart, Uriel, is my second in command of the angels. It's the same way for her, too. Uriel was very loyal to Abbadon, and was upset by his death." Naruto explained.

Haku asked, "How close were Seras and Alucard?" Naruto replied, "She was his wife. Anyways, I came here to go over the plan for tomorrow." He relayed the plan to Zabuza and Haku, who both agreed to it. Finishing that, he left, telling them he'd see them tomorrow.

He jumped into the air, flying back to Tazuna's house. He saw Aizen flying through the air near him, and flew over. Aizen saw him, saying, "So, your team still doesn't know about those two?" Naruto smirked. "They'll find out tomorrow. Besides, I want to see the looks on their faces."

The two of them landed behind Tazuna's house, Naruto went inside, Aizen shrinking down to follow him. His team was sitting down, eating dinner. Kakashi looked up at him, asking, "Where were you?" Naruto shrugged, "Training." He sat down and got a plate of food, and began to eat.

The next morning, Team seven and Tazuna went to the bridge, only to see it covered in a thick fog. Kakashi narrowed his eyes. "Stay close. I have a feeling we may run into trouble." Naruto rolled his eyes, and shouted, "Hey! Zabuza! Haku! Come on out!" The two of them strolled out of the fog. "Hey, kid." Zabuza greeted with a wave.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes and got into a fighting stance. "I don't know how you healed your wounds so fast Zabuza, but coming here was a mistake." He was about to attack, but was stopped by Naruto. "It's okay Kakashi, they're allies. There coming back to Konoha with us." Seeing the confusion in Kakashi's eye, he explained how he had turned Zabuza and Haku, and adopted them into his clan. He explained their plan to eliminate Gato.

Zabuza spoke up, "Speaking of Gato, don't you think he would send some thugs after Tazuna's family?" Naruto just smirked. "I left Aizen at the house. Anyone who comes after them is gonna get a nasty surprise.'

Tazuna's house

Two of Gato's thugs, Waraji and Zori, were walking up to Tazuna's house. They had been ordered to capture Tazuna's daughter. They were about to knock on the door, when they were suddenly covered by a large shadow. They turned around, and promptly lost control of their bowels.

Tsunami was sitting in the house, when suddenly, she heard screams coming from outside. She rushed out the door, only to see Aizen snoozing in the sun. She walked back in side, shaking her head and muttering to herself, "I must be hearing things." She didn't see Aizen's satisfied grin.

At the bridge

The ninja suddenly heard a voice from the end of the bridge. "So, Zabuza, it looks as though you've betrayed me. That's okay, I was never planning to pay you anyway!" The ninja turned to see Gato standing at the end of the bridge, behind a small army of mercenaries. There must have been over three hundred of them. Gato smirked. "Prepare to be eliminated! Kill them all!"

Shadows began to swirl around Naruto. His voice became demonic as he said, **"I will."** He leapt high into the air, soaring upwards. He called out, **"Katon: Sozin's Comet!"** and began to fall back to earth. As he did, his form was covered in flames, until in his place was a gigantic fireball. The fireball fell towards the group of mercenaries, landing right in the middle of them. The ones near the center of the blast were incinerated instantly. The shockwave traveled out for hundreds of feet, knocking all those present off their feet and burning others close by. The only people far enough away from the blast to avoid serious injury were Tazuna, Team Seven, Gato, and a few lucky mercenaries. To everybody's amazement, and Tazuna's relief, the bridge was not destroyed at all, only covered in scorch marks.

Gato got to his feet shakily, and nearly wet himself as he saw Naruto walking towards him, sword in hand. He backed away slowly, saying, "P-please don't hurt me1 I can give you anything you want! Money! Power! Women! Men? Just please, have mercy!" Naruto looked down at the man who was begging for his life. He leaned close to him, whispering, **"No." **he plunged his hand into Gato's chest, pulling out his still beating heart and crushing it in his hand, before sinking his fangs into Gato's neck, drinking his remaining blood and absorbing his soul and memories.

He dropped Gato's dried, withered husk over the side of the bridge, into the sea. He turned to the few remaining mercenaries who were cowering from him, trying to hide themselves. **"I am sparing your lives for one reason and one reason only: to spread word of what happened here. I want the whole world to know; I am Uzumaki Naruto, the Half-Night King. Now leave."** The frightened mercs ran away as fast as their legs would carry them, weapons lying forgotten on the bridge.

Naruto walked back to his group, who had been watching the slaughter from a distance. As he walked up, Kakashi said, "You've never heard of overkill, have you?" Naruto grinned. "I don't believe in overkill. I call it makin' damn sure." Zabuza snickered. Kakashi looked back at the bridge, asking, "How the hell did you manage not to damage the bridge with that attack? Seems like it should have been blown to pieces."

Naruto replied, "The nature of Fire is to consume and destroy. Thus, to force fire to not destroy is to truly master the element." Zabuza looked at him funny. "The hell does that mean?" Naruto rolled his eyes, before walking over to a nearby bush and plucking a leaf off of it. Suddenly, the leaf burst into flames, burning hot. After a minute, Naruto extinguished the flame, showing that the leaf had not been burned at all. "This is an exercise I learned a while back. The trick is to not allow the fire to burn the leaf. And trust me, it is as hard as it sounds. Took me damn near half a year to get it down."

Tazuna said, "I don't give a crap how you did it, I'm just glad you didn't destroy my bridge." Naruto nodded his head. "Agreed."

Seeing as Tazuna's workers were nowhere to be found, Naruto created a hundred Yami Bunshin, who under Tazuna's instruction quickly managed to finish the bridge over the next two hours. The ninja returned to Tazuna's house one last time to collect their gear, and soon Team Seven, along with Zabuza, Haku, and Kyuubi, who had been snoozing on the couch, were back at the bridge, where the entire town had come to see them off. From where Tazuna was standing with his family, Inari walked forwards and stood before Naruto. He looked at Naruto and said, "I'm sorry for those things I said. I had no idea what a hard life you'd had. Thank you for killing Gato, and saving our country."

Naruto smiled, and patted the kid on the shoulder. "No problem, Inari. Just remember to always stand tall, and never give up without a fight." He and his group began to walk away, and Tazuna asked Inari, "So, what should we name the bridge?" Inari smiled. "Isn't it obvious? The Great Naruto Bridge!" the people gathered there all cheered, and so the bridge was named.

As the ninja began their journey back to Konoha, Haku moved over to Naruto and asked, "So, how many vampires are there in the world?" Naruto shrugged. "A few hundred thousand." Haku whistled. "Wow, that many? Where do they all live?" Naruto replied, "Vampires are nomadic, usually traveling together in small groups. They had a true home once, but it was destroyed during the war. The angels mounted a massive siege against the Vampire's city, and the vampires were forced to flee while a group of three hundred warriors attempted to hold off the angels. I heard that they lasted for days, killing thousands of angels, and even almost killed the general. In the end however, they fell. But they managed to give the other vampires the time needed to reach safety and regroup. This was what led up to the gigantic battle between Alucard and Abbadon. The vampire's city is nothing but ruins now, buried under a gigantic desert. The vampires continue to hope that they will someday return to their homeland."

After he finished his tale, they all continued walking. Naruto looked up at the sky as he walked to see Aizen flying high above them. His eyes widened. "Wait a minute, why the hell are we walking?" He whistled to Aizen, and the large dragon landed in the middle of the road. "Everybody get on Aizen. We'll get to Konoha a lot faster." Everybody climbed on the large dragon's back, albeit hesitantly, and he took off into the air, complaining, "Why do I have to carry you, Naruto? You can fly, dammit!" Naruto rolled his eyes before jumping off of Aizen, spreading his wings and flying alongside them. They made good time back to Konoha, only taking about an hour until the village gates were in sight.

Naruto and Aizen landed on the ground, and everybody got back off. They decided to walk the rest of the way to the gates. As they approached, Zabuza asked Naruto, "So why do you keep calling yourself 'The Half-Night King'?" Naruto answered, "Well, when Alucard was alive, he was known as The No-Life King. Well, technically he was undead, but that's not the point. Anyway, that's what the vampires and the angels call me, and I thought it was cool, so I stuck with it. It's a name I want people to remember."

They approached the gate, and were waved through when Kakashi showed the mission scroll to the guards. Naruto waved to them as he passed through, them being friends of his. Izumo and Kotetsu were two Chunin who he had often planned pranks with when he was younger. They could usually be found guarding the gates of the village. Aizen grinned at them as he passed, though on him it didn't look very friendly.

Once they were in the village, the group continued on to the Hokage Tower, and were let into Sarutobi's office. He looked up from his paperwork and smiled at them, though he looked at Zabuza cautiously. "Welcome back from your mission, everyone. Though it seems we have some guests." He indicated to Zabuza, Haku, and Kyuubi. After Kakashi gave a report about the mission, he was asked to leave, along with Sakura and Sasuke.

Sasuke said, "Why should I have to leave if the dobe gets to stay? Anything important enough to tell to him should be said to me." The looked at him coldly. "Uchiha, your mouth is going to get you into a lot of trouble one day. I suggest you silence it. Now, get over your delusions of entitlement and leave my office." Sasuke glared at Naruto, before turning and storming out of the office.

Sarutobi looked back to Naruto. "Now then, I was hoping you could tell me why a Kirigakure nuke-nin is in my office." Naruto explained, "After severely wounding Zabuza in our first encounter, I found his hideout in the forest and offered to heal his wounds, on the condition that he would join us and return to Konoha with us. He agreed, and I turned both him and Haku. Now, I wish to adopt them into my clan, to ensue their safety. They also wish to join the village as shinobi."

Sarutobi looked at Naruto in surprise. "You turned them into vampires?" Naruto nodded. "It felt like the best course of action at the time."

Sarutobi nodded. "Very well. How strong would you say they are?" Naruto replied, "Hmm…Zabuza is high ANBU level, and Haku is probably high Chunin to low Jounin. Also, Haku has the Hyoton bloodline, although I don't know how the transformation may have affected it…"

Sarutobi said, "Alright. Zabuza, I'll instate you as a Jounin, and Haku, I'll instate you as a Chunin." They both nodded. Sarutobi said, "If you'll excuse us, I need to speak with Naruto and the girl privately." Zabuza and Haku nodded, and Naruto told them where to find his house.

Sarutobi looked at Naruto and asked, "So, who is this young woman, and why was she not mentioned in the mission report?" Naruto sighed before explaining, "Well…how do I say this? Ah, fuck it. She's the Kyuubi. And before you say anything, I put a seal on her to prevent her from hurting anyone I order her not to, and she only has five tails of her power."

Sarutobi sat still for several minutes, before finally saying, "Kyuubi is a chick?" Naruto burst into laughter while Kyuubi just glared. Sarutobi sighed before asking, "How did this happen?" Naruto replied, "Well, I used an angelic seal to create a flesh and blood body for Kyuu, and-" Sarutobi raised an eyebrow. "Kyuu?" he interrupted. Naruto just rolled his eyes. "And then I transferred her consciousness and power into it, losing four tails in the process."

"What exactly is an angelic seal?" Sarutobi asked. Naruto answered, "Well, humans originally learned the art of sealing from angels. Except the ones made by angels are a lot more powerful, and are even capable of bending reality. As a half-angel, I can create angelic seals. They can do just about anything. All the stories about angels performing miracles were mostly just angelic seals, although before his death, the leader of the angels had the ability to use seals without inscribing them on anything, basically allowing him to bend the world to his will, to a certain extent. Since his soul is part of mine, I will eventually inherit that ability."

Sarutobi nodded, puffing on his pipe. "That is most impressive, Naruto. Do you have any idea when you will reach your full potential?" Naruto shrugged. "Hell if I know. Could be anywhere from tomorrow to a hundred years for all I know." He suddenly slapped himself on the forehead. "Crap, I almost forgot. I want to adopt Kyuu into my clan." Sarutobi looked at him surprisedly. "Oh? All right then, if you say so. I will make Kyuubi a member of the Namikaze clan. If you trust her, then I will trust your judgement." "Uzumaki-Namikaze. I've decided to join the two clans together. After all, I am the heir of both clans." Naruto said. Sarutobi nodded, filling out the paperwork to make Zabuza, Haku, and Kyuubi members of the Uzumaki-Namikaze clan.

When that was finished, Sarutobi reminded Naruto that the Chunin exams were coming up in a few months, and he and Kyuubi left the tower, heading back to the Namikaze compound. When they got there, he let Zabuza and Haku stay in his house, since it was pretty big and Naruto said he could use the company.

Over the next two months, Team Seven continued to go on C-rank missions, most of which were eliminating bandits. Naruto enjoyed these, as it gave him plenty of souls to collect. Sakura and Sasuke made their first kills on one such mission. A bandit had been rushing at her with a sword, and her training had kicked in. She had waited for him to strike, stepping inside his guard and shoving a senbon into his brain through his eye. She had been horrified at first, but remembered what Naruto had told her, and continued fighting.

Sasuke's own kill had been less clean. He had simply launched a fireball at the man, and it had engulfed him, causing him to scream for two whole minutes before he died. Sasuke had felt nothing, except a small satisfaction that he had managed to hold on to his humanity a little longer than Itachi, whose first kill was at age nine.

Other than that, Naruto had continued to oversee Sakura's training, when he had the time. Sakura had progressed far in her training, learning all the jutsu she had been given, and even mastering a few. She had changed her outfit as well, getting rid of the red battle dress in favor of a similar outfit, but shorter and black. It still had her white circle on it, though. However, taijutsu was where she excelled. She had put on muscle, and gotten faster, too. She had become very proficient in her style, and had become fluent in its use, having memorized the pressure points. Her finest moment, however, was during a spar with Naruto. While he ran at her, she had managed to hit a pressure point on him, before he completed his swing, knocking her into a tree. He had helped her up, saying he was impressed at how far she had come. She asked why he had said that, having lost the spar. He pointed out that that was the first time she had been able to touch him, and said that he was confident in her ability to take on almost any Genin in a taijutsu fight. She had smiled brightly at the praise.

Sasuke was mainly learning from his clan library, and was training his sharingan, which had activated after his first kill.

Meanwhile, Naruto had been training with Haku, who found that his Hyoton bloodline had been greatly improved. It was now black as night, and responded to his thoughts with little effort. It seemed to be much colder, capable of freezing almost anything it touched, and had become as hard as steel. Naruto had taken to calling him Haku of the Black Ice. Both boys agreed that it sounded very cool, so it stuck.

Zabuza, meanwhile, had not changed his fighting style very much, aside from learning to fight a lot better without his sword, and adding in a few Yamiton and Fuuton jutsu to his arsenal. His increased strength made it a lot easier to wield his sword, and he adapted that into his kenjutsu style.

Naruto had been training in several different fields, mainly working on his teamwork with Aizen in battle. He had also been learning tactics and strategy from his usual teacher, Uriel. She was teaching him how to command large groups in the middle of a battle. Kyuubi had also told him that she was preparing a special training for him.

At the moment, we find Team Seven lying about their usual training ground, expecting to have to wait a few hours for Kakashi to show up. They were surprised, however, when Kakashi suddenly showed up, right on time. He saw the three Genin looking at him strangely and said, "What, I can't ever show up on time?"

"…"

"Point taken. Anyway, I wanted to tell you that I nominated you for the Chunin exams." They all perked up. Kakashi handed them each a slip of paper, saying, "If you're interested in taking the exams, fill these out and take them to room 300 of the Academy tomorrow morning. Of course, if you feel you're not ready you can always wait until next…year…" he trailed off as he saw the Genin fill out the applications immediately, paying no attention to him. He sweatdropped as they walked off, talking animatedly about the exams.

The Genin were walking through Konoha, Aizen at their side, when out of the corner of his eye, Naruto noticed a rock following them. A perfectly square rock. Naruto sighed. "Come on out, Konohamaru." The box suddenly exploded in smoke, and they heard the sounds of three children coughing. The smoke cleared, revealing Konohamaru and his friends.

Konohamaru had walked in on Naruto training in the forest one day, and impressed with his strength, demanded that Naruto train him. When he refused, Konohamaru had told him that he was the Hokage's grandson, and he could get his grandfather to make him do it. Naruto just hit him on the head and told him to go away. Konohamaru had eventually pestered Naruto in to teaching him something, and Naruto had shown him the Kage Bunshin, saying that he could use it when he gained enough chakra.

Naturally, Konohamaru immediately attempted the jutsu, passing out from chakra exhaustion. He woke up soon, though, and he and Naruto became friends. He and his friends, Moegi and Udon, formed the Konohamaru Corps, and had taken to following Naruto around, trying to get him to play with them.

"What's up, Konohamaru?" he said. Konohamaru shouted, "Come play ninja with us, Boss!" Sakura snorted. "What kind of ninja plays ninja?" Konohamaru glared at her. "What do you know, ugly?" Everybody stopped. Sakura turned to glare at Konohamaru, fire in her eyes. Naruto leaned down to him, whispering, "Konohamaru, I've been training her, so I would advise you run…NOW!" the three children took of running, rounding a corner with Sakura in pursuit. Suddenly, Konohamaru slammed into a large figure, falling to the ground.

The figure, a large boy in a black bodysuit, picked Konohamaru up by his shirt, shouting, "Watch where you're going, punk! That hurt! I oughtta teach you a lesson!" another person there, a girl with blonde hair in four ponytails, said, "Kankuro, put the kid down. Gaara's going to get mad at you."

The one called Kankuro said, "Yeah, yeah. This will only take a minute." He reared his fist back to punch Konohamaru, but was stopped by a sword at his throat. To his left, he saw a tall boy with long silver and black hair, and a pair of wings. He was holding the sword, his eyes narrowed. "I suggest you put down the Hokage's grandson, unless you want me to take your head off."

Kankuro gulped, letting Konohamaru down. He ran over to his friends and Team Seven, and Naruto removed the blade from the boy's throat. Naruto's attention turned to a nearby tree, and he pointed his gun towards it. "You, in the tree. Why don't you come out here where we can see you?"

Suddenly, a boy with red hair, black marks around his eyes, and a large gourd on his back appeared next to the other two in a swirl of sand. Everybody's eyes widened, as they hadn't even noticed him there. The red-head looked at Naruto strangely before saying, "I apologize for the stupidity of my brother. My name is Sabaku no Gaara." Naruto nodded to him, and looked at their headbands, which bore an hourglass symbol. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I suppose you three are in Konoha for the Chunin exams?" he asked. Gaara nodded. "That is correct. Now, if you will excuse us, we must be going. I look forward to meeting you in the exam, Uzumaki Naruto." The Suna team turned to leave.

Suddenly, Naruto recalled a memory of a book he had read, about jinchurriki, and the different marks the Bijuu leave on their hosts. He recognized the marks around Gaara's eyes as the mark of the Ichibi jinchurriki. Turning to his team, he said, "Watch out for that Gaara kid. He's dangerous." Sasuke snorted. "Please, dobe. As if some desert rat could take down an Uchiha." A wicked idea crossed Naruto's mind. "You're probably right, Sasuke. I can't wait to see you fight him!"

The three of them went their separate ways, Sasuke going to the Uchiha district, Naruto heading home, and Sakura heading to their training ground to practice. Incidentally, the Uchiha district was right next to the Namikaze compound, so Naruto and Sasuke were heading in the same direction.

Seeing a golden opportunity, Naruto turned to Sasuke, asking, "Hey, teme. You up for a spar?" Naruto hadn't had a chance to humiliate Sasuke in a spar since graduation. "Whatever, dobe. Just be prepared to lose." They made their way to a training ground, facing each other. "How do you want to do this?" Naruto asked. Sasuke shrugged. "Let's go all out." Naruto grinned evilly. He unstrapped his gun belt, dropping it and his sword into his shadow.

The two got into their stances, waiting for the other to make a move. Suddenly, Naruto raised his left hand, creating a very bright flash of light that blinded Sasuke. He created a tendril of shadow, grabbing Sasuke by the ankle and whipping him around into a tree. He got to his feet, spitting out some blood and charging at Naruto, Sharingan blazing. Naruto sidestepped as punch to the head, grabbing Sasuke's arm and putting him in a painful arm lock. He threw the boy back, causing him to roll along the ground a ways before getting to his feet. Sasuke performed several hand seals, launching several small fireballs at Naruto, who just batted them away with his hands. Naruto smirked, taking a deep breath before exhaling a huge fireball that was larger than anything Sasuke could muster. It tore across the training ground, Sasuke desperately trying to get out of the way before it hit him. He jumped above it, and the fireball dissipated before it hit anything. In mid air, Sasuke looked to his left to see Aizen swooping down on him. Unable to alter his course, he was snatched up into the large dragon's claws. Aizen took him high into the air, before dropping him, letting him fall back to earth. He screamed as he fell, certain he would die. The ground rushed up to meet him, and he closed his eyes. After several minutes, he opened his eyes, wondering if he was dead. He was surprised to see himself floating about a foot off the ground. Naruto stood over him, hand extended. He lowered his hand, and Sasuke fell to the ground. "I win." He said, and jumped into the air, flying away into the night with Aizen. Sasuke just laid there, his heart still racing.

Naruto flew home, wondering what this special training Kyuubi had planned was for. He smiled to himself. He and Kyuubi had become very close, and always smiled to her when he saw her, something he rarely did at all. He flew to the training ground behind his home, and landed in the middle of the field, next to Kyuubi. He gave her his usual smile. "So, what's this training you have for me?" he asked. Kyuubi smiled back at him, and said, "I'm going to teach you bending."

Naruto looked at her confusedly. "Err…what's bending?" "Bending is the art of understanding the elements, and controlling them. This is an art that has not been used for millennia."

Naruto nodded. "So, it's like elemental ninjutsu?" Kyuubi shook her head. "No, it's completely different. Elemental ninjutsu just takes your chakra and forces it to emulate a particular element. Bending, however, takes that element and allows you to control it in its natural form, through understanding its nature, and imposing your own willpower upon it."

"Okay, I think I understand. How do I do it?" Kyuubi laughed. "You already can, dumbass. Due to your angelic, as well as vampiric heritage, you have an innate understanding of light and darkness. The same is true for wind and fire, to a lesser extent. You have been controlling these elements with sheer willpower for years." Naruto looked surprised. "Really?" Kyuubi nodded. "Yes. Now, what I wanted to teach you is how to control lightning. Lightning is really only an extension of fire, but it is also its opposite. Whereas fire is fueled by passion and strong emotions, lightning requires a calm and clear mind, as well as focus. If you aren't completely in control of yourself when you use it, it will destroy you. Since you are an accomplished firebender, even if you didn't know it, you are ready to learn to create lightning. Now, watch me do it, and then you try."

Kyuubi faced a tree, before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. She focused for several moments before pointing suddenly at a nearby tree, lightning shooting out her fingertips and utterly destroying the tree, as well as the ground around it. Naruto gaped at the display of power. "Now, you try." Kyuubi said.

Naruto nodded, and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath, and released it. He cleared his mind, focusing only on his current task. As he focused, he could feel the electricity building inside his body. His body hummed with power, so much that he could feel it in his teeth. He directed it through his body, and just as he was about to release it, a sudden image of Kyuubi popped into his mind, ruining his concentration.

Out of control, the lightning shot painfully out of his body, shooting wildly into the sky. He fell on the ground, and lay there panting for several moments before he opened his eyes, seeing Kyuubi leaning over him, a worried look on her face. Naruto blushed from the proximity.

"What the hell happened?" Kyuubi asked. Naruto looked away, trying to hide his blush. "I, uh, lost my concentration." "How? You were doing fine right up until the end." Naruto sighed to himself. He knew that he had feelings for Kyuubi, but he didn't want to ruin his friendship with her. If she didn't feel the same way, it would make the rest of eternity very awkward. I his usual spirit, he decided to just fuck it and dive right in. "Kyuu, I like you. A lot. As in, I want to be more than friends."

Kyuubi looked shocked. She was silent for several moments. Just as Naruto was about to apologize, Kyuubi's face lit upon with a huge grin and she tackled Naruto in a hug. "I feel the same way." Now naruto was surprised. "You do? How long have you felt like that?" Kyuubi blushed, looking down. "Well, I've been interested in you since we first met, really. When you stood up to me like you did, I was shocked. Since then, we've been getting closer and closer, and I realized how much I really cared about you."

Naruto smiled. The two of them leaned close to each other, and they kissed. It was short, and only lasted a second, but it was incredibly meaningful for both of them. Feeling invigorated, Naruto stood, closing his eyes. He took a deep breath, pointing towards the sky as he released it, a huge blast of lightning shooting from his fingers with a deafening roar. He smiled, and laid back down on the grass, and Kyuubi rested he heads on his chest. The two of them laid there for the rest of the night, talking and staring at the stars.


	4. Chapter 4

**Here's chapter four. Not much to say this time, sooo…let's begin. **

"Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash."

Naruto had left his house with Aizen, bidding Kyuubi farewell, and had met up with his team in front of the Academy. They made their way inside, Aizen shrinking down, and walked up a few flights of stairs before noticing a group of Genin in front of a door with a sign above it that said 300, blocked by two others. Naruto saw the two who were blocking the door push back a kid in a green jumpsuit, whose hair was in a bowl cut, and whose eyebrows looked like they could come alive and eat you. "Let us through! We have to take the exam!" yelled the jumpsuit kid.

The two blocking the door just smirked. "Please, we're doing you a favor! You kids would just get yourselves killed." One of them said. Naruto recognized the two as Izumo and Kotetsu, in disguise.

Naruto looked to his team. "It's just a genjutsu, we're still on the second floor. Just leave it be." Naturally, Sasuke opened his mouth. "Drop the genjutsu. We're obviously still on the second floor." Everybody turned to look at him, and the sign above the door changed to show that they were indeed still on the second floor.

Izumo, still in disguise, smirked. "So, you saw through it? That's too bad. Now you'll probably just end up dying. Save yourself the trouble and quit now!" he kicked at Sasuke, who prepared to kick back. Suddenly, the jumpsuit-wearing boy from before was in between them, blocking their kicks with his hands.

His teammates, a boy with long hair and pale eyes, a Hyuuga, Naruto noted, and a girl I a pink Chinese style shirt with two buns in her hair, came up to the boy, the girl shouting, "Lee, what are you doing! It was your idea to hide our strength!" The boy called Lee looked sheepish. "Sorry, Tenten." He apologized. As Team Seven began to walk away, they heard a voice from behind them. "Excuse me," they turned around to see the Hyuuga boy from Lee's team. "What is your name?" he asked, looking at Sasuke. Sasuke just smirked. "It's polite to give your own name before asking someone else's." The Hyuuga narrowed his eyes. "You're a rookie, right? How old are you?" "I don't have to tell you anything." Sasuke replied.

Lee came up behind his teammate, and looking at Sakura, gave a thumbs-up while saying, "Hey there! My name is Rock Lee! Will you be my girlfriend? I'll protect you with my life!" Sakura looked creeped out, and said, "Err, no thank you…please go away…" Lee's female teammate looked past Sasuke, and saw Naruto leaning against a wall. She saw his sword, and rushed over, hearts in her eyes.

"Hi!" she greeted. "Are you a kenjutsu user?" she asked. Naruto shrugged. "Among other things. I use a sword, but I don't rely on it." the girl nodded. "Oh, that's smart. My name's Higurashi Tenten. What's yours?" "Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto replied. Tenten asked, "So, Does your sword have any special qualities or anything?" Naruto nodded. "Yeah. Watch this." He transformed his sword into its zanbatou state, and Tenten's eyes grew huge. "Oh my god! Can I hold it, please?" she begged. Naruto offered her the handle, and she accepted it. However, as soon as it left Naruto's hands it fell straight to the ground, and Tenten was unable to budge it. "Holy shit!" she exclaimed. "This thing must weigh a fucking ton! How can you possibly lift this thing? It's inhuman!"

Naruto began laughing t that. Tenten glared. "What's so funny?" she asked. "I'm sorry, it's just that I'm not human, so your comment struck me as funny." He said as he stopped laughing. "You're not human?" she asked quietly, her eyes wide. Naruto shook his head. "No, I'm not. I'm half angel, half vampire. Why does it matter?" "Well, I…uh, it just seems strange, I guess. That explains the wings, though." Tenten replied.

He said goodbye to her, and his team continued to another area, when they heard yet another voice behind them. "Wait!" they turned to see Lee, looking at Sasuke. "Uchiha Sasuke! I want to fight you!" Sasuke smirked. "So, even knowing who I am, you still want to fight me? Very well." Lee walked towards Sasuke, saying, "I feel I should warn you, I am the strongest Genin in Konoha." Naruto snorted. "That's a lie." Lee looked at him. "Who are you?" he asked politely. Naruto smirked. "Someone who knows the value of hard work, unlike this prick of an Uchiha behind me. And just for the record, _I'm_ the strongest Genin." Lee grinned as well. "A fellow Genius of hard work, who claims to be the strongest Genin in Konoha? Very well then, I shall fight you instead! However, before we begin, would you mind telling me your name?"

As the two of them got into fighting stances, Naruto answered, "Uzumaki Naruto. Remember it." he unstrapped his gun belt, once more dropping it and his sword into his shadow. "How does taijutsu only sound to you?" Naruto asked. Lee nodded. "Excellent! Let our fires of youth explode!" With that, he rushed at Naruto, surprising Sasuke and Sakura with his speed. But Naruto could see him clearly. Lee launched a kick at his head, but he pushed the foot upwards, pushing Lee off-balance. Lee planted his hands on the ground and flipped back to his feet. Undeterred, he rushed back at Naruto, aiming to kick his gut. Naruto sidestepped, sinking his fist into Lee's gut and throwing him away. The boy hit the ground, landing on his feet. "Truly, you must have worked very hard to reach this level of strength, Naruto-kun!" Lee shouted. He ran at Naruto, weaving back and forth, and sent several punches at Naruto, none of which connected. "If it's alright with you, Lee, I'm going to end this now.' Naruto said. He caught Lee by the wrist, kicking him rapidly in the gut several times, before spinning him around and throwing him into a wall. Lee slammed into the wall upside down, leaving a crater. He fell to the ground, struggling to get up. Finally, he fell back to the ground. He saw a shadow over him, and looked up to see Naruto, hand extended with a friendly grin. Lee grinned back, taking Naruto's hand and pulling himself to his feet.

He gave Naruto a thumbs-up. "Thank you for the match, Naruto-kun. You are truly the strongest Genin in Konoha." "My pleasure, Lee. We should train together sometime." Naruto replied. Lee nodded, and they went their separate ways. Naruto retrieved his sword and gun, and Team Seven walked up to the third floor. As they were about to enter the door, Kakashi appeared in front of them in a puff of smoke. He eye smiled, saying. "I'm glad you all decided to enter. Otherwise, none of you would have made it past this point."

Sakura spoke up, "Sensei, we already know that this was a team test. Naruto told us." Kakashi face faulted. He glared at Naruto. "You never let me have any fun." Naruto shrugged. He regained his eye smile. "Anyways, good luck on the exam!" he disappeared.

Teams Seven entered the room, and were met by well over a hundred Genin from different villages, all glaring at them as they entered, and sending waves of killing intent at them. Sakura and Sasuke shrugged it off easily, having felt much worse from Naruto. Naruto just rolled his eyes, blasting his own massive killing intent back at them. The Genin's eyes grew wide, and they all looked away quickly.

Suddenly, they heard a voice from behind them. "So, you guys entered the exam, too?" they turned around to see Kiba, with Shino and Hinata following him. He grinned, "Damn, Naruto. That was some wicked killing intent, man!" Kiba and Naruto greeted each other with a friendly pat on the back, Akamaru sniffing Aizen warily.

Suddenly, from behind them, they heard, "Sasuke-kun! I missed you!" Sasuke was suddenly glomped from behind by Ino. Sakura yelled, "Get off him you pig!" Ino yelled back, "Make me, Forehead!"

The rest of Ino's team soon followed. "Geez, will you girls stop being so troublesome?" Shikamaru said while Chouji munched on a bag of chips. Kiba grinned. "Looks like the Rookie Nine is all here."

"Hey, you guys must be the rookies, right?" They turned to see a boy with glasses and silver hair walking up to them. "Who are you?" Ino asked. "I'm Yakushi Kabuto. I have something that could help you guys out in the exam." Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Why would you want to help us?" Kabuto smiled. "Call it sportsmanship. This is your guys' first time taking the exam, so you might not be aware of how difficult it is. I have some information that could help even the odds."

He pulled out a stack of cards from a pouch on his hip. "These are ninja information cards. They're full of information on the Chunin Exams that I've collected."

"Kabuto-san, is this your second time taking the exam?" Sakura asked. Kabuto shook his head. "No. I've taken the exam twice a year for four years, so this would be my seventh time. However, that means that I've had plenty of time to compile this information."

"It also means you suck." Kiba added. Kabuto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, yeah. However, I plan to give it my all this year!" Sasuke asked, "So, how do these cards work?" "I just channel chakra into them, and the information appears. Watch." He took a card off of the stack, and placed it on the floor. He channeled his chakra into it, and it began spinning, after a moment, it stopped, and a 3-d image appeared out of the card.

"This shows what villages are participating, and how many Genin have been sent from each village. Let's see…thirty from Ame, twelve from Kusa, ninety from Konoha, twenty-seven from Suna, twenty-one from Kumo, and only three from Oto. But that's to be expected, as they're a relatively new village, and not very well-known."

"Do you have information on individuals?" Sasuke asked. Kabuto nodded. "Yeah, pretty much everybody. Have someone in mind?" "Rock Lee, Sabaku no Gaara, and Uzumaki Naruto." "Oh, you know their names? That's less fun." He took a card off the stack. "Okay, first we have Rock Lee. He's a year older than you, and his teammates are Hyuuga Neji and Higurashi Tenten, and his Sensei is Maito Gai. Hmm, that's odd…he has zero skill in ninjutsu and genjutsu, but his taijutsu is off the charts. He's completed thirty D-ranks, and twenty-eight C-ranks."

Kabuto picked up another card. "Sabaku no Gaara. His teammates are his brother and sister, Kabuto and Temari, and his Sensei is Baki. He's very skilled in ninjutsu, but weak in gen and taijutsu. He's completed eight D-ranks, Thirty-four C-ranks, and surprisingly, a B-rank. Huh, Genin aren't usually allowed to take B-ranks. And it says here that he's come back from every mission without a scratch! I'd hate to fight him."

He picked up a third card. "And finally, Uzumaki Naruto. Let's see…Teammates are Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke, and his sensei is Hatake Kakashi. That's odd…there is no record of his skills…well, anyway, he's been on thirty D-ranks, Forty-nine C-ranks, an A-rank, and…what's this? An S-rank! That's amazing!" The Group looked at Naruto in amazement, except for his team, who were confused. "Wait a minute, we never did an S-rank." Sakura said. Naruto shrugged. "I did one on my own. It was before graduation."

Kabuto picked up his cards, and said, "Well, I hope that helps you out. I gotta get back to my team." He turned to leave, and the Rookies began to chat amongst themselves. Suddenly, Kabuto felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to see Naruto. "Could I have a word with you in private?" Naruto asked. Kabuto nodded, and they went to an empty corner of the room.

"How can I help you, Naruto-kun?" Kabuto asked cheerfully. Naruto glared. "Cut the crap, Yakushi. There's no way a Genin could get access to that kind of information, especially on foreigners. Just know, if I find that you're up to something, I will personally tear your arms off and shove them up your ass." Naruto turned and walked away, leaving Kabuto slightly worried. 'I'll have to be careful around him. He's too smart.'

As Naruto rejoined the Rookies, A puff of smoke obscured the front of the room before revealing A large man with scars on his face, wearing a bandana and flanked by several other proctors. "Oi! Shut the hell up and sit down!" the big guy yelled. Naruto raised an eyebrow. 'Ibiki, huh? This should be interesting.' He thought to himself.

Once everybody had taken a seat, the proctor said, "My name is Morino Ibiki, and I am the proctor for the first part of the Chunin Selection Exam. The first part of the exam is a written test." At this, many people groaned throughout the room. "Quiet! Now, I'm going to explain the rules. Keep your mouths shut and don't ask any questions. For those of you who are too stupid to remember, I'll write them on the chalkboard. First, you start the test with ten points. There are ten questions. For each question you get wrong, you lose one point. If one person on your team loses all their points, your entire team fails." "Hey! That's not fair!" shouted a Genin. Ibiki growled. "I told you to keep your mouths shut! Now, if you are caught cheating, you lose two points. If you are caught cheating five times, you and your team fail. We will now pass out the tests."

The tests were distributed to the Genin, and Ibiki said, "You have one hour to complete this test. The tenth question will be given forty-five minutes into the test. Begin!" the Genin flipped over their tests, and began reading over them.

Naruto looked at his test, scanning over it. 'These questions are obviously too advanced for a Genin.' He thought to himself. 'Hmm…with the points system…and these advanced questions…it's almost like they want us to…aha! They want us to cheat! Oh well, I don't need to cheat anyway.'

While naruto usually went out to the Forest of Death to hunt, there were times when he was unable to for whatever reason. So instead, he would drink blood packs from the hospital. Since the primary blood donors in Konoha were shinobi, Naruto was able to gain their memories, and a lot of knowledge from the blood packs. He searched through the memories he had absorbed, picking out the answers to the test questions. Finishing, he decided to observe the other Genin.

He saw that others had come to the same conclusion he had, and were now cheating. Sasuke was using his sharingan to copy the movements of the person in front of him. Kiba was having Akamaru look around the room and bark the answers to him. Hinata was using her Byakugan, judging from the veins around her eyes. Though he couldn't see any, he knew that Shino was having his insects give him the answers. Ino had used her family's Shintenshin no jutsu to enter Sakura's mind, and had taken the answers and given them to her teammates the same way. Neji was using his Byakugan as well, and Tenten was using mirrors on the ceiling, controlled by a string, to gather answers, and send them to Lee. Gaara was using a third eye made from sand to gather answers, and Kankuro was using a puppet disguised as an examiner to give the answer he had collected to Temari. Naruto snickered to himself. 'How can they not notice an extra examiner?'

Apparently, Sakura was the only one besides Naruto who didn't have to cheat. Naruto found that very amusing. Naruto noticed that Ibiki had been leaking a small amount of killing intent into the room, increasing the tension. Quite a few teams were kicked out, having been caught cheating. After observing for a while longer, Naruto heard Ibiki say, "Alright, time's up! Stop writing and put down your pencils. We will now administer the tenth question. However, this question has a different set of rules than the first nine. First of all, you have to decide whether or not you want to take the question. And if you choose not to, you fail the exam."

Temari shouted, "Well that's stupid! Why wouldn't we take it?" Ibiki smirked "Because, if you choose to take the question and fail, you will never be able to take the Chunin Exam again." This brought cries of outrage from the Genin. Kiba shouted, "You can't do that! There are people here who have taken the exam before." "You guys are just unlucky. I wasn't the proctor then. So, what's it going to be? Will you decline, and try again later? Or will you risk everything and accept the question?" Several people raised their hands, and they and their teams left. Naruto watched this all with growing amusement. 'Honestly, how stupid are these people?'

Finally unable to contain himself, he burst out laughing. Ibiki glared at him. "What's so funny, brat?" Naruto's laughter died down, and he replied, "Forgive me, but I couldn't help but laugh at how gullible people are. There's no way you have the authority to ban anyone from taking the chunin exam, especially foreign Genin." People who had been about to raise their hands cursed themselves for their stupidity, and quickly lowered their hands. And just like that, the tension in the room was gone.

Ibiki looked around the room, seeing renewed determination in the Genin's faces. Ibiki grinned. "So, you figured it out? Well then. Everybody here…passes!" This brought shouts of disbelief and confusion from the Genin. One said, "Wait, we didn't even take the tenth question!" Ibiki replied, "Well, you could say that the decision of whether or not to take the question was the question. As a Chunin, you are expected to lead a team through dangerous missions. Just because a mission has insufficient information, does that mean you can refuse it? The answer is no. Sometimes, you have to do the best you can with what you have. He took off his bandana, revealing a head covered in scars. In the field, information can often mean the difference between life and death." He put his bandanna back on, and was about to continue when suddenly, a black ball burst through the window. It unfurled, kunai pinning in to the floor and ceiling to reveal a banner that said, 'Mitarashi Anko: Second proctor of the Chunin Selection Exams!' and a woman standing in front of it. She wore a brown trench coat and an orange skirt over a fishnet bodysuit, and not much else.

Ibiki stepped out from behind the banner. "Ah, Anko, you're early." He said. Anko pouted, before looking out over the Genin, and then to Ibiki. "You let twenty-six teams pass? You're losing your touch, Ibiki." Ibiki rolled his eyes. "Blame the silver-haired brat with wings. He was able to see past everything I said." Anko looked at Naruto, and raised an eyebrow. "Why does he have…" Ibiki shook his head. "I don't know, Anko. I don't know."

Anko shrugged. "Well anyway, follow me to the second part of the exam at training ground 44!" She dove back out the window. The Genin all hurried to follow her, Sasuke and Sakura making their way over to Naruto. He looked to them. "You two go on, I need to speak to the proctor." They left with the other Genin.

Once everybody else had left, Naruto walked up to Ibiki, who was collecting tests. He turned around. "What do you want, gaki?" he growled. Naruto answered, "I want to speak to you about a suspicious Genin. His name is Yakushi Kabuto; he somehow gained access to restricted information, including mission records and personnel files for foreign Genin. I think he might be a spy of some sort."

Ibiki raised an eyebrow. "Kid, if what you're saying is true, this kid is almost definitely a spy. Thanks for the tip. We'll keep an eye on him." Naruto nodded, exiting the room via the window and flying towards training ground 44. "Huh." Ibiki said to himself. "I guess those wings aren't for show."

As the Genin waited in front of training ground 44, which was a massive forest, Sasuke and Sakura were wondering where Naruto was, when he suddenly fell right in front of them, landing in a crouch. Sakura glared. "Geez, Naruto, you almost landed right on top of us." Naruto just grinned, and they heard the proctor say, "Alright brats, listen up! This is training ground 44, also known as the Forest of Death. Naruto snorted. "If you're trying to scare us, it isn't gonna work. I've been coming here almost every day for four years."

Anko smirked at him. "You know, cocky brats like you are often the first to die." Suddenly, a kunai flew out of her sleeve, towards Naruto. Naruto just tilted his head to the side- and the kunai was embedded in his forehead. Sakura screamed, and so did several other Genin. Anko just stood there with a look of shock on her face. 'Oh what have I done?' she though to herself. 'Hokage-sama will kill me!'

Naruto just stood there, eyes closed, and the kunai in his forehead. Suddenly, his hand rose, and he yanked the kunai from his forehead. Everybody watched in horror and fascination as the wound in his head quickly closed up. Anko watched in fear as Naruto slowly walked towards her, kunai in hand. She nearly jumped as he held the kunai out to her. "I think you dropped this." He said calmly. She reached her hand out, and accepted the kunai. He turned and walked back to his team, who, along with the rest of the genin, were looking at him with a mixture of fear and awe. Meanwhile, one Kusa Kunoichi was looking at Naruto in wonder. 'He's perfect! I simply must have him! Kukuku…Uzumaki Naruto will be mine!'

Anko tried to clear her head, continuing on as best as she could. "Anyway, this is where we will be holding the second part of the Exam. It's a survival exam. There are two sets of scrolls, Earth and Heaven. Each team will be given one scroll. The objective of this test is to collect the other scroll, and reach the tower in the center of the forest within Five days. You may not look inside the scrolls. If you do, your team fails. Now, I have something for you to sign." Several Chunin passed out papers to each of the Genin. "this is a death waiver. You have to sign it, so that Konoha will not be responsible for your deaths." This seemed to break the Genin out of their collective shock. "Wait, deaths? You mean people are going to die in this exam?" one of them asked.

Anko, finally regaining her cool, smirked and said, "Of course. You are allowed to use any means necessary to retrieve the scrolls." Anyway, fill out those waivers and turn them in with your team at the booth behind me. When you do, your team will receive a scroll and a gate number." The Genin hurriedly filled out their waivers, and Team Seven Walked over to the booth, turning them in and receiving an Earth scroll. "I think I should hold on to the scroll." Naruto said. He took it, dropping it into his shadow. The Genin all stood in front of their gates, and a buzzer sounded. They took off into the forest, beginning the second part of the exam.

Sorry I had to make this chapter so short, but otherwise I wouldn't have been able to find a good place to stop. Anyways, chapter five will be coming soon, and will be much longer. As usual, please take the time to review, and thanks to those that do.

Don't Fear The Reaper,

Kumo no Shinigami


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay, chapter five. Here we go. Last chapter went kinda quickly; so I'm gonna stretch this out as far as I can. I'm really just trying to get past the Chunin exams, but I'm trying not to rush. This chapter will probably go to the Preliminaries.**

"Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall."

As Team Seven raced into the forest, Naruto said to the others, "Follow me, I can smell a team nearby." He changed direction, and Sakura and Sasuke followed him. Soon, Naruto signaled to them to stop. They were on the edge of a clearing, and inside was a team from Kumo. Suddenly, Team Seven all felt a kunai slide up next to their throats, while the team in the clearing disappeared, showing that they were an illusion. The one holding Sakura said, "Give us your scroll, or we slit your throats." Naruto smirked. "Funny, I was just thinking the same thing."

The Kumo team was suddenly grabbed from behind by the real Team Seven, kunai held to their throats, while the ones they were holding dissolved into black smoke, showing that they were Yami Bunshin. "Now," Naruto said, "What scroll do you have?" the boy Naruto was holding growled, "Earth." Naruto sighed. "Damn. Search them anyway, the less competition we have the better." Sakura found the scroll on the kunoichi she was holding, and handed it to Naruto, who dropped it into the shadows. "Knock them out." Naruto said.

Naruto and Sasuke knocked out their hostages, but the one Sakura was holding twisted Sakura's arm around, breaking free and stealing the kunai from her, which she held against Sakura's throat. "Nobody move! Take one step, and I'll kill her!" Thinking fast, Naruto performed a kawarimi, switching places with Sakura. He flared his wings, which were pressed against his captor, and the Kumo kunoichi stumbled backwards, losing her grip. Naruto turned quickly, and raised his hand. The shadows sprang to his command, binding the Kunoichi. He bound the two unconscious Genin, and Team Seven left the clearing.

Sasuke asked, "How did you know to send in clones?" Naruto shrugged. "I could smell where they were. They were waiting in the trees above us, and when we neared the edge of the clearing, they dropped down behind the clones."

Sakura was looking down at the ground, angry for letting herself get taken hostage. After all the training she had done, she expected better of herself. She clenched her fists, promising herself that she would never be helpless again.

As they were running through the forest, they suddenly felt a huge blast of wind tear through the area. Sasuke was quick enough to root himself to the ground, and Naruto forced the wind away from him with his bending, but Sakura was blown away into the forest. Naruto stared ahead, waiting for their attacker to reveal themselves.

Suddenly, Sakura walked out of the bushes. "What was that blast of wind?" she asked. Naruto narrowed his eyes, sending several shadow tendrils at her. She dodged them, yelling, "Naruto! What the hell are you doing?" "Sakura doesn't smell like snakes. Who are you?"

'Sakura' grinned evilly. "So, you saw through it? No matter. The girl is probably dead by now, anyway." Naruto and Sasuke glared at this mysterious person. "Who the hell are you?" their attacker dropped her henge, revealing herself to be a Kusa kunoichi. She pulled out a Heaven scroll, showing it to Naruto and Sasuke. "This what you want, isn't it? Well, come get it." She shoved the scroll down her throat, swallowing it whole. "Now, come at me with everything you have!" Naruto raced toward her at his fullest speed, his form less than a blur, and launched a ferocious kick at the kunoichi's head. It connected, and she went flying not into a tree, but through it, and several more, finally crashing into the ground far away. Naruto and Sasuke jumped after her.

They were surprised to see her climb to her feet, her neck twisted at an odd angle and her face torn up, revealing skin beneath it. She snapped it back into place, and reached up, tearing her face off and exposing a second, and male, face beneath it. "Kukuku…this will be very interesting." Naruto looked at Sasuke. "Stay out of this. This person is far above Genin level." Sasuke gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. 'Why am I always on the sidelines?' he thought to himself. The mysterious shinobi raced at Naruto, almost as fast as he was. Naruto met him in the middle, and the two began their battle.

With Sakura

Sakura had been blown through the forest by the huge gust of wind. As she flew past a tree, she reached out, catching a branch, and swung on it before flipping through the air and landing on a larger branch. She caught her breath, surveying her surroundings. She looked down, and noticed that the branch she was standing on had an odd texture. She looked at it closely, wondering why it looked familiar.

Suddenly, the branch moved, and Sakura had to use chakra to stay attached. The front of the branch rose up, twisting around to reveal the head of a giant snake. Surprised, Sakura jumped to the side as it lunged at her, barely missing. She landed on another tree, and had to jump away as the snake launched at her again. It sank its fangs into the tree, and struggled to pull them out.

Sakura use this time to try to think of a plan. Checking her supplies, she figured out what to do. She made her preparations as the snake struggled. The snake pulled free, looking around for Sakura. It spotted her, lunging towards her once more. At the very last second, she performed a kawarimi, switching places with a log she had covered in exploding tags. The snake swallowed the log, thinking it had been Sakura. Sakura ducked behind a tree as the log exploded, tearing the snake apart. It vanished in a puff of smoke, showing that it had been a summon. Sakura quickly began to make her way back to where she had last seen the others.

After a while, she started to hear loud explosions. She raced forward, worried. She came upon Naruto, fighting wildly against another Genin, while Sasuke and Aizen watched from the sidelines. She ran up to him. "Sasuke-kun! What's happening?" Sasuke continued watching the battle. "This freak attacked us. He's as strong as Naruto." Sakura was stunned. As strong as Naruto? They might be in trouble.

Meanwhile, Naruto was locked in combat with this stranger. He jumped back, firing shots from his gun, two of which slammed into his opponent, who dissolved into mud. Naruto cursed, looking around. He jumped into the air, just as a set of hands burst from the ground. He sent out energy waves from his sword, which his opponent dodged. He fell back to the ground, and the two met each other with punches, hitting each other's fists and causing a shockwave, which forced them apart. They were both breathing heavily, having been fighting for over twenty minutes.

The mysterious stranger suddenly laughed, "Kukuku, you're stronger than I anticipated." Naruto glared. "Who the hell are you, anyway? You're definitely not a Genin." The man smirked. "My name…is Orochimaru." Naruto's eyes widened. "Orochimaru of the Sannin? The White Snake?" He narrowed his eyes. "It doesn't matter. I'm taking you down, no matter who you are!" He lunged at Orochimaru, attempting to cut his head off. Barely able to dodge fast enough, Orochimaru received a long gash across his chest. He performed several hand seals, and Naruto, who was still in midair, was blown backwards into a tree, where he collapsed on the ground. Orochimaru snatched up Naruto's fallen sword, stabbing him through the shoulder and pinning him to the tree. Naruto gritted his teeth, glaring up at Orochimaru, who smirked down at him. "Well Naruto-kun, it was fun wile it lasted. But I'm afraid this is the end." He opened his mouth, a snake slithering out, and it vomited out a sword, which Orochimaru grabbed. He raised it above his head intending to finish Naruto. He brought the blade down, and suddenly Naruto began to glow brightly. **"I'm NOT FINISHED YET!" **he roared. He grabbed his sword by the blade, yanking it out of his shoulder, and swept it upwards, knocking Orochimnaru's blade away, and slashed back down, cutting across Orochimaru's chest again, leaving two gashes in the shape of an X, and finally, plunged his sword through Orochimaru's gut, the blade bursting out his back. Orochimaru's eyes widened, and he vomited a little blood. His eyes grew hard as he though to himself, 'Damn! If I'm to have any hope of survival, I have to escape! If I can just mark him…' he opened his mouth, and clamped down on Naruto's shoulder, using an unknown jutsu. Naruto screamed in pain, and Orochimaru pushed him away, pulling the sword out of his gut and dropping it, and ran at Sasuke as fast as he could, neck extending. He bit Sasuke, who passed out after screaming. Aizen shot a huge jet of fire at Orochimaru, leaving his left side badly burned. The snake Sannin shunshined away, vanishing from the clearing.

After checking Sasuke, and seeing that a strange mark had appeared on his shoulder where he had been bitten, Sakura ran over to Naruto, who was unconscious, and saw that he, too had developed a strange mark. But it was constantly changing shape, never settling. Sakura grabbed Naruto's sword, hefting Naruto on her shoulders and walking back over to Aizen. Aizen said, "Place them on my back. I'll carry them." Sakura draped the two unconscious Genin over Aizen's back, and began to look for a place to make camp.

Naruto's mindscape

Naruto awoke on the ground, feeling sore all over. He sat up, recognizing his surroundings as the maze of hedges that was his mindscape. However, they were covered in a thick, purple sludge that seemed to be spreading. Naruto wandered the maze; seeing that the sludge got thicker the closer he got to the center. Reaching the center, Naruto saw a huge snake that seemed to be made of the purple sludge, and it had Orochimaru's face. It spoke, _"Kukuku…hello, Naruto-kun. Glad to see you've arrived." _Naruto glared. "What are you, and what are you doing to my mind?" The snake hissed. _"I am here to offer you power. Power like you've never felt before. And all you have to do is let it happen. Let it wash over you, lose yourself in it."_

Naruto rubbed his chin, seemingly considering it. "How about…No. I would sooner die than accept help from you." The snake's eyes narrowed. _"I gave you a chance. Now the choice is no longer yours. You will feel my power!" _ The snake lunged at him, Orochimaru head opening to reveal long fangs. Naruto raised his hand, and the snake stopped in mid-air, a foot away from his palm. "I don't think so. This is my mind. And I want you gone!" Naruto placed his hand on the snake's head, and it began to glow brightly. The sludge that it was composed of began to evaporate, and soon only its head was left. _"Nooooooooo!" _the snake shouted as it vanished, and the light got brighter, sweeping through the maze and destroying all trace of the sludge. Naruto faded from his mind, waking.

Meanwhile

Sakura had taken shelter underneath the roots of a giant tree, and had been keeping watch with Aizen, who was hidden in the trees. Since Aizen was there, she had managed to get some sleep in. She threw a kunai at a nearby squirrel, chasing it off. She watched as it ran off, and smirked when she saw it's back. There was an exploding tag attached to it. She prepared herself to fight if needed, signaling to Aizen that there may be enemies near.

Suddenly, three Genin wearing Oto Hitai-ate entered the clearing. One of them, a guy with his face wrapped up and a strange device on his arm, said, "We're here to fight Sasuke and Naruto." Sakura glared. "Well, too bad. They're both unconscious."

The Genin shrugged. "That doesn't matter. Our orders were to kill them." Sakura's eyes widened. "Orochimaru sent you, didn't he?" the Genin nodded. "Yes. Orochimaru is our master. Now, get out of our way and you won't be harmed." Sakura took up a fighting stance. The bandaged genin sighed. "Very well. Zaku, take care of her." One of the others, a boy with spiky hair and the word death written on his shirt, grinned and walked forward.

He ran towards Sakura, lifting his arms. "Zankuha!" A huge blast of air came from two holes on his palms, and tore up the ground while heading towards Sakura. She jumped to the side, barely dodging the airwave. She ran towards Zaku, dodging blasts as necessary, until she was close enough to attack him. He punched at her, put she stepped inside his guard, delivering a knee to his gut. He doubled over, and Sakura hit several pressure points in his back, causing him to freeze up, and he toppled over. She stood over him, in her stance, while Zaku's teammates looked on in surprise. The bandaged one suddenly rushed at Sakura, swinging at her. She dodged, but suddenly began to feel dizzy and nauseous. She fell to her knees, unable to stand.

The Oto Genin thought they had won, when the bandaged one was sudden kicked in the face by a green blur. It stopped, revealing Lee. By now, Zaku had gotten to his feet, rejoining his teammates. Nobody noticed a dark purple chakra rising off of Sasuke.

The Oto Genin attacked Lee, the bandaged one stunning him with his mysterious attack. Lee stumbled, and was caught by a Zankuha, and sent rolling across the ground. Sakura stood to fight, but was punched down by Zaku. She tried to fight back, but he kept beating her.

Suddenly, the clearing was flooded with an evil feeling chakra. They looked towards its source, to see Sasuke, half his face covered by black marks, and a dark purple chakra rising off of him. "This power…it's incredible!" he shouted. He looked at Sakura, seeing her covered in bruises. His eyes narrowed. "Sakura. Who did this to you?" he asked.

Zaku smirked. "I did! What are you gonna d-" he was cut off by Sasuke slamming a kick into his face, sending him flying across the clearing. Sasuke was waiting at the other end, and punched Zaku into the ground. He stood over the Genin, and grabbed his arms while placing a foot on his back. "You seem awfully proud of these arms." He began to bend them at an unnatural angle, a series of pops following. He kept twisting, and the arms broke with a sickening crack. Sasuke grinned wildly. He was about to continue the beating, when he was grabbed around the waist by Sakura. She cried into his back, saying, "Sasuke-kun. Please stop. No more." His face was expressionless for a moment before he sneered, pulling Sakura off him and throwing her to the ground. "You're pathetic." He punched her in the face, sending her rolling away. He walked towards her, but stopped when Lee stepped in his way. "Sasuke! I will not allow you to harm her!"

Sasuke shot forward, grabbing Lee by the throat, and began to choke him. Lee's teammates jumped down from the trees, Neji yelling, "Uchiha! Release my teammate!" Sasuke just sneered at them. "You're all so pathetic. When I'm done with this loser, you're next." Suddenly, the arm that was holding Lee in the air was caught in a vice-like grip. Sasuke looked, to see Naruto gripping his wrist, cold fury in his eyes. "Uchiha, if you do not release him immediately, you will suffer." He said calmly. Sasuke just smirked, attempting to punch Naruto away. Naruto grabbed his fist, and twisted it around, putting him in an arm lock. He dragged him over to a tree, smashing his face into it repeatedly before throwing him away, and walking towards him. Sasuke was on the ground, glaring up at Naruto. "You dare attack an Uchiha, you pathetic loser? I will bury you! I will make sure that you never-" he was cut off by Naruto planting his boot in his face, sending him flying into a tree. He hit with a crunch, falling unconscious.

Naruto walked over to Lee, who was holding his throat. "Are you alright, Lee?" he asked. Lee nodded. "Yes, thank you Naruto-kun. If you hadn't woken up when you did, I'm not sure what would have happened." "No problem." Naruto replied. He walked over to Sakura, helping her up and treating some of her minor injuries. She looked over to Sasuke's unconscious body, feeling conflicted emotions.

Naruto turned to the Oto team, who were still standing in the clearing. "Drop your scroll, collect your teammate, and get the fuck out of my sight." He said. They hurriedly picked up Zaku, carrying him away and leaving behind a heaven scroll on the ground. Naruto picked it up with his telekinesis, bringing it over to him. He dropped it into his shadow, and walked back over to Sakura, who was standing with Team Gai. Naruto looked at Lee. "What scroll do you need?" he asked. "Earth." Lee replied. Naruto nodded, retrieving the spare Earth scroll from his shadow. "Take this spare." Lee nodded, thanking him, and Neji questioned, "Why are you helping us?" Naruto shrugged. "Lee risked his life to save us, when technically we're enemies. That deserves a reward." he answered. Neji just looked at him a moment before nodding, and Team Gai jumped away into the trees.

He grabbed Sasuke by the foot, dragging him on his back through the forest, and walked away, motioning for Sakura to follow. Aizen swooped down from the trees, shrinking down and perching on Naruto's shoulder. Sakura looked to Naruto and said, "Ah, don't you think you should carry him?" "Nope." Naruto replied.

They walked through the forest, and the few Genin who were foolish enough to attack them were ruthlessly beaten by Naruto, before he continued on his way. He had actually swung Sasuke at one of them, sending him flying away. He continued to drag Sasuke, but looked down at him, and after a moment of thought, flipped him over so that he was now face down. He continued walking through the forest, dragging Sasuke behind him, and with Sakura following.

After a few hours, they reached the tower, and went inside. They entered into a small entrance room, with an inscription on the wall at one end of the room. It was a poem; Naruto guessed it had something to do with the duties of a Chunin. Sakura asked, "What do you think we're supposed to do now?"

Naruto shrugged. "Open the scrolls, probably." Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Didn't the rules say we weren't supposed to open the scrolls?" Naruto nodded. "Yes, but I'm sure that's what the poem means." Sakura replied, "Fine, let's give it a shot."

Naruto retrieved the scrolls from his shadow, and rolled them both open. He recognized the inside as summoning scrolls, and quickly threw them away from himself. They landed on the ground, crossing each other, and the room was obscured by a puff of smoke.

The smoke cleared, revealing Iruka. He grinned. "Long time, no see." Naruto grinned back. "Hey, good to see you, Iruka-sensei." "I'm glad to see you've made it this far. You guys are the fourth team here." Iruka said. He then noticed Sasuke on the ground, unconscious, and covered in blood and mud. "What the hell happened to Sasuke?" he asked.

Naruto shrugged. "I don't know. Anyway, I need to talk to the Hokage about something, as soon as possible." Iruka nodded. "Alright, we'll go to his office." He turned to sakura, saying, "You should stay here. Find yourself a room, and put Sasuke in another one. There's a cafeteria if you get hungry." Sakura nodded, and Naruto and Iruka each vanished in smoke.

Hokage's office

Sarutobi was sitting at his desk, reveling in the absence of paperwork, when two puffs of smoke appeared in his office. He saw that it was Iruka and Naruto and smiled, saying, "Ah, hello there. What can I do for you?" Iruka replied, "Excuse the sudden arrival Hokage-sama, but Naruto said he had something important to tell you."

Sarutobi looked to Naruto. "Would this be concerning the information you gave Ibiki on a possible spy?" Naruto nodded. "Yes, I believe so." Sarutobi puffed on his pipe for a moment, before saying to Iruka, "Thank you, Iruka. You are dismissed." Iruka nodded, vanishing in a shunshin.

Sarutobi turned back to Naruto, folding his hands before him. "So, what did you have to tell me?"

Meanwhile, near the Forest of Death

Anko was racing through the forest, her eyes full of anger and determination. About an hour ago, ANBU patrols had discovered a group of Kusa Genin, with their faces seemingly melted off. Recognizing the jutsu as one of her old sensei's kinjutsu, she had raced off into the forest, hoping to confront him. As she went deeper into the forest, she started to see a trail of blood along the ground.

She followed it for several minutes, and eventually discovered something that shocked her to her core. Leaning against a tree in front of her, and vomiting blood, was her former Sensei, Orochimaru. He appeared to be wounded greatly.

He turned around, sensing her presence. "Ah, Anko-chan. What a pleasant surprise." She looked at him with wide eyes. "Who the hell did this?" Anko asked. Orochimaru growled. "That damn Uzumaki brat! Kukuku…well, at least I was able to mark him, as well as the Uchiha."

Anko raised an eyebrow. "One Genin did this all by himself?" she asked skeptically. Orochimaru chuckled. "He is no ordinary Genin, Anko-chan. After all, you saw what he did at the beginning of the second exam. He is very…special." Anko nodded. "yes, I could tell there was something off about him. Anyways, I should probably take this opportunity to finish you off." Orochimaru shook his head. "I'm afraid I can't let you do that, Anko-chan. No, I will not allow myself to die by your hand. If anyone kills me, it will only be someone who is truly worthy. Farewell, Anko-chan." With those words, Orochimaru used what little of his strength remained to transport himself away. Cursing, Anko shunshined away to the Hokage's office, to tell him of what happened.

Back in the Hokage's office

Naruto had explained to Sarutobi what had happened in the forest, and the Hokage had a grave look on his face. "Tell me, what was the extent of Orochimaru's injuries?" he asked. "Well, let's see…I cut him along the chest twice, stabbed him through the gut, and Aizen burned him pretty good when he tried to escape."

Sarutobi nodded, lighting his pipe. "And you say he bit you on the shoulder, as well as Sasuke? And you were able to banish this strange power from your mind, correct?" Naruto nodded. "Yes. I eliminated every trace of it in my mindscape." Sarutobi puffed on his pipe, asking, "Could you do the same for Sasuke?" Naruto considered for a moment. "Yes, easily. It would only take a small angelic seal to destroy the foreign power. However, it would take some time. Sasuke has already used this power once, meaning it probably has some kind of hold on him. The seal would take about a month to safely destroy it. And if Sasuke were to use that power in that time, the time could be doubled or even tripled. It's inconvenient, but it's the only way to get rid of it without causing massive physical and mental damage."

Sarutobi thought for a moment before saying, "Apply your seal as soon as you can. This power is dangerous and unpredictable, and frankly, anything to do with Orochimaru is better off eradicated. Do what you have to." Naruto nodded, standing up. "Very well. I should return to the tower now." He vanished, melting away into smoke.

As Sarutobi was about to return home for the night, his doors burst open, revealing Anko looking very distressed. "Hokage-sama! Orochimaru is in the village! He attacked one of the Genin teams, but they-" she was cut off by the Hokage raising his hand to calm her. "Anko, I have already been informed of the situation, and everything is under control."

Anko replied, "Hokage-sama, you don't understand! He marked two Genin with the curse seal! We have to find them and seal it away!" Sarutobi replied, "I told you, everything is under control. Naruto just left a moment ago. He already came and told me hat happened. He was able to destroy his own curse seal, and is in the process of destroying his teammate's."

Anko's eyes grew wide. "He destroyed the curse seal? How is that even possible?" "As I'm sure you know, Naruto is quite unique. He has a special talent with seals." Anko raised an eyebrow. "How strong is that kid, anyway? He took a kunai to the forehead and not only survived, he calmly handed it back to me ten seconds later. Jinchurriki or not, no one should be able to do that."

Sarutobi sighed. "Well, since he doesn't seem to care who knows, I suppose I can tell you. Naruto is not human." "Well then what the hell is he?" Anko asked. "A hybrid, a cross between an angel and a vampire. I don't know exactly how strong he is, but he nearly killed Kakashi on his first day as a Genin. And as he himself has told me before, he will only get stronger as time goes on."

Anko whistled. "Damn, that kid is a powerhouse. You think Kyuubi has anything to do with it?" Sarutobi shook his head. "No, I assure you Kyuubi has nothing to do with Naruto's growth." "Well, how do you know? Did the kid tell you?" Anko asked. "Actually, Naruto freed the Kyuubi himself several months ago. She has been living with him inside the village."

Anko's jaw dropped. "The Kyuubi is free?" she nearly yelled, but caught herself, not wanting to start mass panic in the village. Sarutobi nodded. "Yes, but I assure you, she is no threat to anyone. Naruto placed a seal on her that supposedly keeps her from attacking anyone. Also, she lost four tails of power during the process of releasing her."

Anko was still in a state of shock. "But how do you know she- wait, she?" Anko asked, suddenly confused. Sarutobi nodded. "Yes, Kyuubi is female." "Well, shit." "Indeed." The Hokage replied. Anko asked, "So, the kid doesn't care who knows all this?" "That is correct. However, some things, such as his exact strength and abilities, he keeps to himself."

Anko nodded to herself. "So if some random person just walked up to him and asked, 'Hey, what's with the wings?' he would tell them?" "I assume so. He told me I could tell anybody who came to me with questions." Anko got up, preparing to leave. "So, do you know where I can find the kid? I want to ask him a few questions after the exam."

Sarutobi nodded, before fishing around in a drawer, and coming up with a slip of paper. He wrote something down, before handing the paper to Anko. "Naruto lives at this address with Kyuubi and a few friends of his." Anko accepted the paper, looking at the address. Her jaw dropped.

Back at the tower

Naruto reappeared in the tower, looking around at his surroundings. He was in the entrance room. He walked through the tower, finding a room next to the one Sasuke was deposited in. He thought about going in for a while, but decided against it. He decided to head up to the roof. He made his way up the stairs, emerging out onto the rooftop. He noticed another figure standing at the edge of the roof, leaning on the guardrail.

Naruto saw that it was Gaara, the Suna Genin he had met the other day. He walked up behind him, letting his footsteps echo so as not to startle the other Genin. He came up next to him, leaning on the rail and looking out over the forest. The other Genin didn't bother to look at him, instead continuing to stare up at the moon.

Suddenly, Gaara spoke. "Do you want something?" Naruto shrugged. "I don't sleep. I usually like to spend my night looking up at the sky." Gaara turned his head toward him, saying, "I do not sleep either. The beast inside me will take over if I do. There would be much death." Naruto nodded. "Yeah, I recognized the marks around your eyes. You're Shukaku's host, right?"

Gaara snapped his head back towards Naruto, glaring. The gourd on his back began to rattle, and sand began to pour out. Naruto raised his hands to calm Gaara. "Whoa, easy. I didn't come here to fight. I'm a jinchurriki too." Gaara looked surprised. "You are?" he asked, his and retreating a little.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah. Well, I was. I freed my Bijuu a few months ago, and now she's my girlfriend." Gaara raised a non-existent eyebrow. "I'm afraid I'm missing the joke." Naruto chuckled. "No joke. Me and Kyuu are real close." Gaara's eyes widened, an action Naruto didn't know they were capable of. "You mean the Kyuubi? How are you able to get along with such a beast?"

Naruto glared. "Hey, watch what you're calling my girlfriend. And she's really not that bad, once you get to know her. I'm guessing your relationship with Shukaku isn't quite as pleasant?"

"When I sleep, it devours my soul." He deadpanned. Naruto nodded. "Ah. I see. You know, I could probably help you with that." "What do you mean?" Gaara asked, confused. "Well, since I'm half angel-" "Oh, I was wondering about the wings." "Yeah, and I'm wondering why you don't have eyebrows. Anyway, since I'm half angel, I have a special talent with souls. I trust you know the story of Shukaku, right?"

Gaara shook his head. "I am not familiar with it." "Well, I'll give you the short version. The reason Shukaku is insane is because a mad priest sealed his soul inside Shukaku a long time ago, and the priest's madness bled out into the Bijuu's mind." "How does this help me?" Gaara asked. "I'm getting to that. I could extract the priest's soul from Shukaku, who would return to his normal mindset. Believe it or not, Shukaku is actually rather docile."

Gaara looked at Naruto strangely. "You can do this? Why are you helping me?" Naruto shrugged. "Because I can." Gaara got a strange look in his eyes at those words, and fell silent for several minutes. After a while, he said, "You…are very different from anyone I have met, Uzumaki. I have never met anyone willing to help another just because they have the ability to."

Naruto looked at Gaara. "So, do you want me to help?" Gaara nodded. "Yes. Tell me, what benefits will come from this?" he asked. "Well, Shukaku would be sane, first of all. Who knows, maybe you'll even get along with him. You'd be able to sleep, something I assume you're looking forward to. You'll be stronger, due to being able to focus more. Speaking of focus, you won't have to constantly hold back Shukaku's influence from taking you over. Other than that, you'll have to talk to Shukaku. Remember, it's better to have an ally than an enemy."

Gaara seemed excited, although Naruto really couldn't tell, due to Gaara's facial expression never changing. "When can we do this?" he asked. Naruto shrugged. "Right now." Gaara nodded. Very well. What do you have to do?" Naruto replied, "I'll need you to let Shukaku out."

Gaara raised an eyebrow. "If I do that, you'll most likely be smushed." Naruto just waved away Gaara's concerns. "Don't worry, I can take him." Gaara shrugged. "Alright then." Naruto slug Gaara's arm around his shoulder and jumped off the roof, flying into the forest.

After awhile, they landed in a rather secluded part of the forest. Naruto set Gaara down on the ground and backed away. "Whenever you're ready, Gaara. Just let him take over." Gaara closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. He released control of his body, and sand began to swirl around him. Eventually, it took the form of a gigantic sandy tanuki, with blue markings running across the surface of its body. Gaara performed a few hand seals, before calling out the name of a jutsu and falling asleep.

The Bijuu let out a roar, and yelled, **"Yahoo! I'm free!" **"Ahem." He looked down, to see Naruto casually leaning against his leg. "Hey there." Naruto said, waving. Shukaku raised up his leg, intending to smash Naruto beneath his foot. He brought it down with, leaving a crater in the ground. "Well that wasn't very nice." He looked to his left to see Naruto standing on a tree branch. **"Why won't you die, you annoying pest?"** the Bijuu yelled.

Naruto rolled his eyes, and jumped up into the air. "Okay, that's enough fun. Now, to business." He shot into the air, heading straight for Shukaku's head. The Bijuu sent out several giant tendrils of sand to stop him, but Naruto just powered through them, not slowing. Finally, he landed o top of Shukaku's head. He blasted the Bijuu's head with fire, turning part of it into glass. He landed on this glassy spot, right on top of Shukaku's head. Naruto lifted his hand, and it began to glow brightly. He shoved it down into Shukaku's head, yelling, "Eat sanity motherfucker!" Shukaku froze up, his body going stiff. Suddenly, white light began to flood out from inside him, making his eyes and mouth glow brightly. The glow began to get brighter and brighter until finally, Naruto ripped his hand out of Shukaku's head, and the light disappeared from Shukaku's body. The light was now contained in Naruto's hand, still shining brightly. He closed his fist, the light getting brighter for a moment before vanishing completely.

Shukaku stubled around a bit, before shaking his head and reaching up to Naruto. He picked Naruto up, setting him down on his hand and looking at him. The two were silent for a moment before Shukaku crushed Naruto to his body in a gigantic hug. **"Thank you so much! You have no idea how good it feels to be free of that lunatic's influence! What kind of moron seals himself into a Bijuu? But he's gone now, and it's all thanks to you!"**

Naruto was currently being crushed to death in Shukaku's arms. He gasped for breath, yelling, "Yes, you're very welcome! Please put me down!" Shukaku dropped Naruto onto a nearby tree, and Naruto breathed a sigh of relief. "Whew. Much better." He looked up to see Shukaku doing a sort of strange victory dance. He cleared his throat to get the Bijuu's attention. "Hey, I kinda need to talk to Gaara now."

Shukaku nodded, and the sand began to recede from Gaara, returning to his gourd. He was left standing on the ground, feeling slightly disoriented. "Did it work?" He asked. Naruto grinned. "See for yourself. Try talking to Shukaku." Gaara focused on the mental connection he had to Shukaku, asking, "Can you hear me?" **"Yep! I can hear you, and boy is it great to be back to normal!" **Shukaku began to hum to himself. Gaara retreated from his mind, slightly disturbed.

"He is oddly…peppy." Gaara remarked. Naruto laughed, grabbing Gaara by the shoulder. The two vanished in smoke. They reappeared on the roof of the tower. Gaara shook his head, still somewhat disoriented. Suddenly, a thought occurred to him. "Where did the soul of that mad priest go? Did you do something with it?" Naruto shrugged. "I kept it. you never know when you might need the soul of an insane priest. Best to keep it handy." Gaara just nodded slowly. "Right…" Gaara's mind turned to other matters. He had decided to tell Naruto about the invasion if he was able to help him with Shukaku. Since it had been a success, Gaara intended to tell Naruto everything.

"I have something I want to tell you." Gaara said to Naruto. Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Okay, go ahead." "My village is planning an invasion alongside Otogakure, to be carried out on the day of the Chunin exam finals." "Oh. Alright then." Now Gaara raised an eyebrow. "That's it? You're not surprised?" Naruto shrugged. "No, I'm surprised. I'm just not worried. I'll take care of it when the time comes." Gaara raised an eyebrow. "How strong are you, anyway?" Naruto grinned. "Hmm…let's say very, and leave it at that. The fact that I have an entire army at my beck and call doesn't hurt either."

Gaara replied, "Well, nevertheless, I will not be participating in my village's invasion, nor will my siblings, if I have anything to say about it. Which I do." Naruto grinned. "Cool." Gaara nodded, and then said, "I've been wondering about something. How does your village treat you? I know most jinchurriki don't have pleasant lives, I sure didn't but you don't seem to be affected at all."

Naruto shrugged. "When I became what I am, I stopped caring what the villagers thought. They can either come to accept me or not, but either way I'm not going anywhere. If there's a problem between me and them, then it's for them to worry about, because I really couldn't care less. There are some people in the village that are good to me, though. I'm not entirely alone. Plus, I've always had Kyuu, even if I didn't always know it. I suppose my answer to your remark is no, nothing this village does could ever affect me. They can only get to me if I let them."

Gaara was surprised by Naruto's words. "Things were… different for me. My father implanted Shukaku in me before I was born, and my mother died because of it. For the first six years, I was spoiled, given anything I wanted. And then, my village began to see me as dangerous, and tried to have me killed. Everyone who doesn't hate me for what I am is terrified of me. I just kill anyone who tries to kill me. It works pretty well."

Naruto just shook his head. "Yeah, both of our villages are pretty fucked up. My village hates me because they think I'm the Kyuubi, and you're village is afraid that you'll destroy them all. The irony ion your case is that they mad you into what you are in the first place. Luckily, the rest of the world isn't so closed-minded. I've been out of the village a lot on missions, so I've seen a lot. Most of the people I meet fully accept me for who I am. I tell ya, it's a nice feeling."

Gaara nodded. "I would imagine so. I've never felt it." Naruto looked at him. "Never? No one has ever accepted you?" Gaara replied, "Once, there was someone who I thought accepted me. But I was wrong. Since then, there has been no one." Naruto walked over to Gaara, slinging an arm around his shoulder. "Well then, it seems I have the honor of being your first friend." Gaara looked at him. "Friends?" Naruto nodded. "Friends." Gaara let a smile cross his lips, the first in years. The two boys sat down on the roof, watching the sun come up.

…And that, Ladies and Gentlemen, is how the cookie crumbles. Look forward the prelims in chapter six, out in a few days (probably.)

**Don't Fear The Reaper, **

**Kumo no Shinigami**


	6. Chapter 6

Here it is, the long awaited chapter six! For those of you who didn't read the note I added on to my other story, just know that I will be focusing on this story exclusively until it's finished, which will hopefully be by the end of the year, or in January. Anyway, you've waited long enough. Go read already.

"Encouragement is a necessary part of supervision."

Naruto and Gaara were walking down the stairs together, chatting about one thing or another. They walked through the tower, finding the cafeteria, where they were met by the bleary-eyed stares of four teams of Genin, all sitting at one long table. Gaara's own team had looks of shock and surprise on their faces at seeing Gaara, who actually seemed to be getting along with the other Genin.

It seemed Sasuke had finally woken up, and was sitting with Sakura. He had not, apparently, looked in a mirror however. His face was covered in mud and his hair full of twigs from his facedown trek through the forest. He had no idea why people kept laughing at him all morning. Sakura could barely contain her giggles.

Team Eight was also there, sitting by Sakura and Sasuke. Finally, sitting quietly at one the end of the table near the Suna Genin was a team from Kiri. There were two guys and a girl, each carrying weapons and wearing matching black trench coats. The first, a tall black haired guy, carried a large hammer, with a square head that had spikes on each end. The second one, a somewhat shorter girl with long red hair, carried a long scythe, the pole black and the blade serrated and blood red. The final one looked similar to the first, but shorter. The sleeves of his coat were rolled up, and there were many visible scars on his arms. He carried two wakizashi, crossed in an X at the small of his back.

Naruto looked over to his team, seeing the death glare Sasuke was giving him, and walked with Gaara over to his siblings. They looked almost frightened as Gaara approached, greeting them with a wave and a lazy, "Hey." Kankuro looked at Gaara strangely. "Gaara? Are you feeling well?" Gaara nodded. "Better than ever." Naruto chuckled, patting his new friend on the shoulder. "Alright, Gaara. You should eat something, then get some sleep. Frankly, I'm surprised you haven't passed out on me already." Temari and Kankuro's eyes grew wide at this. "Gaara can't sleep! Shukaku-"

"Shukaku is no longer a problem." Naruto interrupted. Seeing his sibling's confused faces, Gaara explained, "Naruto made it so I can sleep. We're friends now. Oh, and also, I'm really sorry for threatening to kill you so much." That was it. Kankuro's eyes rolled into the back of his head, and his head hit the table, before he fell to the floor, out cold. Temari just sweatdropped, saying, "Ehh…that's alright, Gaara. You're our brother, after all."

Naruto walked away to do something, and Temari tried to rouse Kankuro. Eventually, she got him up, and he sat back down at the table. He looked at his siblings seriously. "That never happened." Temari and Gaara both nodded gravely. Gaara got some food, and sat back down, saying, "There's been a change of plans in the invasion. We won't be participating." "What? Why?" Kankuro asked, confused.

Gaara glared at him. "Naruto helped me a lot. I'm not going to turn around and betray the only friend I've ever had that wasn't a stuffed animal. When the invasion comes, I'm fighting with Konoha. What will you do?" Temari and Kankuro looked at each other before nodding. "We'll follow you, Gaara." Temari said. Kankuro nodded. "Yeah, that Naruto kid seemed alright. You don't find that many people willing to help foreigners for no good reason." Gaara smiled, something that seemed incredibly odd to his two siblings. "Great. Now, if you'll excuse me." He promptly passed out in his cereal, his snores ringing throughout the cafeteria. Temari sighed. "Grab his legs." "Why do I always have to grab the legs?" Kankuro protested. "Shut up and help me lift."

Meanwhile, Naruto was walking over to his team and team eight, who were talking to each other. Sasuke had caught his reflection in a passing shiny object, and had immediately let out a comical yelp and ran to take a shower. Naruto got a plate of food, and sat down next to Sakura, across from Team Eight. Sakura asked, "Where have you been?" Naruto shrugged. "Ripping a crazy priest's soul out of a giant demon's body." Kiba snorted. "Good one." Naruto snickered to himself silently.

As Naruto finished eating his food, he looked to the others seated at his table, and grinned. "Who's up for some sparring?" Sakura glanced over at the Kiri team and raised an eyebrow. "Should we really be showing our skills in front of potential enemies?" Shino nodded. "Sakura-san has a point. It would be unwise to give them any kind of advantage."

Naruto just grinned. "There's nothing wrong with showing off a bit, and we need a way to kill time. Besides, if we can get them to spar with us, maybe we can learn a little about them." Sakura just shrugged. "Whatever. I'm down if you guys are." Kiba, never one to refuse a challenge, nodded vigorously. Shino nodded as well, and Hinata squeaked out an okay after being persistently poked by Kiba.

Sasuke chose this moment to return from grooming himself. "What're we doing?" he asked. "We're training, teme. You ready to get your ass kicked again?" Sasuke scoffed. "Bring it, dobe."

The table of Genin stood, making their way through a door, and into the tower's training room. The Kiri team looked after them curiously, choosing to follow and observe. Once everybody was gathered, Naruto asked, "Alright, who wants to spar first?" Kiba and Akamaru jumped forward eagerly, grinning wildly. "We've been waiting to fight you!" Akamaru barked in agreement.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you want to use Akamaru?" Kiba nodded. "Of course! He's my partner!" Naruto shrugged. "Fine. Then I guess I'll work with my partner." Aizen jumped off Naruto's shoulder, standing slightly behind him. Kiba snorted. "What's that overgrown salamander supposed…to...do…" he trailed off as he saw Aizen grow to his full size behind Naruto, who just smirked. "Still want to use Akamaru?" Kiba sweatdropped as Akamaru turned and ran to sit over by Hinata.

The observing Kiri nin all tensed as they saw Aizen growing, but soon relaxed. "So, are we going to fight, or what?" Naruto asked. Kiba growled, and charged towards Naruto. Naruto just rolled his eyes. As Kiba reached Naruto, he dropped down and tried to sweep Naruto's feet out from underneath him. Naruto flipped over Kiba, landing on the other side of him. He smirked. "Too slow." He flared his wings while spinning, creating a large gust of wind, which blew Kiba off his feet. When he stopped tumbling, he felt the tip of Naruto's sword placed at his throat. "Give?" Naruto asked. "Fine." Kiba grumbled. Naruto pulled him up, and the two of them walked over to the others.

Naruto felt a tap on his shoulder, and turned around to see the three Kiri Genin. The shorter male spoke, "You fight well." Naruto nodded to the other boy. "Thanks." The other boy offered his hand. "My name is Kisuke. Behind me are my brother Ryousuke, and my sister Mako." Naruto accepted the offered hand, replying, "I'm Uzumaki Naruto. It's nice to meet you. Did you three want something?"

Kisuke nodded. "I noticed your sword. I would like a kenjutsu spar." Naruto shrugged. "Sure, why not. But let's let some others fight first, I just had a match." Kisuke simply nodded, and turned towards the center of the room. Naruto turned towards the others. Whose gonna fight next?" Sasuke was the first to step forward. Naruto looked to the others, seeing who would challenge Sasuke, when he suddenly had an idea. "Sasuke, why don't you fight Aizen?" Sasuke shrugged. "Whatever." Aizen grinned, and looked at Naruto. "Do I have to go easy on him?" he asked. Naruto thought for a moment. "Not too easy." Aizen shrunk down to about half size, and faced Sasuke in the center of the room. Sasuke ran at Aizen, who immediately knocked the Uchiha into a wall with a flick of his tail. Sasuke climbed to his feet, and tried again, with much the same result.

As Aizen was batting Sasuke around, Naruto turned toward Kisuke, saying, "I'm surprised Kiri sent a team this year, what with the civil war going on." Kisuke replied, "Mizukage-sama does not wish to give the impression of weakness. Therefore, he sent us to represent him." "It must be an honor to be the only team selected to represent your village." Naruto said.

Kisuke shrugged. "Perhaps. Personally, I don't care for the man, or his ideals." "I thought the Mizukage had the complete support on those in Kiri?" Naruto asked. Kisuke shook his head. "Not necessarily. There are those who simply do not wish to be drawn into the conflict." Naruto nodded in understanding. "What of your siblings?" he asked. "They are of the same mind as me. We simply wish to carry on, as we always have. We care little for the Mizukage and his petty war."

The two stepped away from each other as Sasuke impacted the wall in between them, slumping down and losing consciousness. Naruto looked down at his teammate, and back at Kisuke. "We can have that spar now." Kisuke nodded. "Good."

The two proceeded to the center of the room, drawing their swords. They watched each other for a moment before rushing at each other. They each swung, and as their swords grinded against each other, their eyes met for a small second. Each boy gave the other a small nod before they separated, only to come together again a fraction of a second later. They continually increased the speed of their blows, until they were all but a blur to those watching. The sight was so mesmerizing to the observers, that Sasuke had forgotten all about his sharingan. It was like watching a strange deadly dance, each participant just a tiny slip away from death at any given moment. They seemed to be moving in perfect synchronization, countering each other's moves perfectly. Finally, their blades locked one last time, and Naruto overpowered his opponent, sweeping his blade upwards and pushing Kisuke backwards. He let go of one of his wakizashi as he was pushed, and the blade was sent up into the air. It cut Naruto across the wrist as it flew up, causing him to release his blade as well. With both swords up in the air, Kisuke rushed forward to end the fight. As Kisuke came towards him and the swords came down, Naruto caught his opponent's wakizashi, placing it at Kisuke's throat as Kisuke placed his blade to Naruto's throat. As they stopped in this position, Naruto's katana embedded in the floor, landing in the space in between the two fighters.

No one so much as breathed for half a minute. The two opponents stepped back from each other clasping hands and giving each other a silent nod. Naruto handed Kisuke back his wakizashi. From the sidelines, Kiba, Aizen and Mako started cheering loudly, while everyone else just clapped, except for Sasuke, who just brooded.

"That was an excellent battle." Kisuke said. Naruto grinned. "That was the best spar I've had in a while." Kisuke nodded. "Likewise. Well, we must be going. We have several things to take care of." With that, he and Mako turned and walked away, but Ryousuke stayed where he was. He and his brother shared a look, and Kisuke nodded and continued walking.

The large Genin looked at Naruto for a moment, before saying, "Brother was right. You fight well. Fight with your heart. That is good. Always remember what you fight for, and you will be strong." With that, the large Genin turned and left.

Watching him leave, Naruto suddenly remembered something, and walked back over to Sasuke, who was still unconscious on the floor. Naruto bent down, slapping Sasuke across the face a couple times, until Sasuke finally opened his eyes, glaring at Naruto. "What do you want, dobe?"

Naruto smiled cheerfully and waved. "Hey there, Sunshine. Just thought I'd let you know that I'm sealing off that little hickey you got from Orochimaru." Sasuke's eyes widened. "You can't-" "Too late!" Naruto interrupted. His hand began to glow, and he placed it on Sasuke's shoulder, on top of the curse mark. The glow flowed out of Naruto's hand and into Sasuke's shoulder, causing the boy to yell out in pain, and lose consciousness. The glow surrounded the curse mark and glowing brighter before dimming down to reveal an intricate seal around the mark.

The others, who had been watching this, looked alarmed. "Naruto!" Sakura yelled. "What the hell did you do to Sasuke!" Naruto looked at her. "I sealed off that curse mark. Hokage's orders." Naruto picked the boy up, slinging him over his shoulder. "I'll take him to his room." He said as he walked away, Aizen following after him.

After dropping Sasuke off, Aizen said he was going out top hunt, and flew out a window, before growing to full size and flying off. Naruto made his way back to the others, and saw that Temari and Kankuro had joined them.

Naruto greeted them with a wave, which they returned. "How's Gaara?" he asked. "Sleeping like a rock." Kankuro replied. "He'll probably be out for a few days." Temari added. Naruto nodded. "So, I assume you guys are here to train?" Temari shook her head.

"Actually, we came to thank you for what you did for Gaara." Naruto waved them off. "It was no big deal." Both siblings raised an eyebrow. "Taking on a Bijuu was no big deal?" Kankuro asked. Naruto nodded. "Not for me, at least. As you can probably tell from my appearance, I'm not exactly what you would call normal."

Temari nodded. "Yeah, I've been meaning to ask…why do you have wings?" "Because I'm not exactly human, either. I'm an angel-vampire hybrid." Temari and Kankuro's eyes widened. "Seriously?" Kankuro asked. Naruto nodded. "Wouldn't you want to keep that secret?" Temari asked. Naruto looked at her blankly. "Why?"

Temari shook her head. "Never mind. So, what can you do?" Naruto winked. "You'll just have to wait and see." The two Suna nin gave him a weird look for a moment, before thanking him again and leaving.

Naruto walked back over to the others, and Kiba asked, "What was that all about?" Naruto shook his head. "Nothing. Anyway, let's get back to it."

Three days had passed, and only a few more teams had made it to the tower. The only other teams to show up were Team Ten, Team Gai, the Oto team, and Kabuto's team. Naruto was on the roof of the tower, leaning back against Aizen's side and reading a scroll, when he sensed someone approaching from behind.

He turned around to see Sakura coming up the stairs. "Can I help you, Sakura?" Naruto asked politely. "Everyone's gathered in the main hall. I was sent to find you." she replied. Naruto nodded and closed his book, closed his scroll, dropping it into his shadow. "What are you reading?" Sakura asked curiously. "Oh, just a little history." Naruto answered. Aizen shrunk down, perching on Naruto's shoulder, and they made their way inside.

Naruto entered the main hall to see the other Genin standing in rows facing the Hokage and several other Jonin, as well as each team's sensei. As he and Sakura took their places, Sarutobi cleared his throat. "Now that everyone is here, we can commence. Allow me to explain to you the true nature of these exams…"

As Sarutobi gave a long speech about the exams, Naruto let his gaze wander around the room, observing the people he knew little or nothing about. Two people in particular interested him. First was the Jonin sensei of the team from Kiri. He wore a standard Kiri shinobi uniform, and was about five-foot-nine with short black hair and cold blue eyes. His face was as heavily scarred as Ibiki's, and he carried no obvious weapons, which Naruto found odd, considering that every Kiri nin he had encountered prior had carried some kind of weapon. Naruto made a mental note of this man and filed it away for later.

The second to catch Naruto's eyes was the Oto team's sensei. Naruto recognized him as Orochimaru and seethed in rage. He promised himself to stay on his guard.

As Naruto turned his attention back towards the Hokage, the old man was just finishing his speech. "Anyway, now to explain the next portion of the exam." He was interrupted by a sickly looking Jonin. "Excuse me Hokage-sama, but as the proctor for the next part of the exam, I think I should explain it." Sarutobi nodded, and let the man continue.

The Jonin coughed and began, "My name is Gekkou Hayate, and I will be the proctor for the third part of the Chunin Selection Exams. Since so many teams passed the second part of the exam, we will be having preliminary matches to determine who will move on to the third round. From this point on, the exam is individual, so if any of you wish to drop out it will not affect the rest of your team. Are there any of you who wish to quit?"

Kabuto raised his hand, giving a sheepish smile. "I'd like to quit." Hayate nodded, noting the boys name down on a clipboard. "Very well. Make your way to the entrance of the tower and you will be escorted back to the village." Kabuto left, and Hayate coughed again before continuing, "Anyone else? Well then. Since there are now an uneven number of competitors, someone will have to fight twice. Any volunteers?"

Naruto raised his hand. "I'll do it." he said. Hayate nodded. "Good. Now, if you'll all direct your attention to the screen. If your name turns up, stay here, otherwise, go up to the balconies."

Everybody looked up to the large digital screen hanging on the wall, holding his or her breath as it began to flash quickly from name to name. Finally, it came to a stop on two names: Uchiha Sasuke versus Haruno Sakura. Sakura's eyes widened, and she looked almost fearful. She glanced over to Sasuke, to see him calm and unworried.

"Sakura." Sakura almost jumped at the unexpected voice. She turned to see Naruto giving her a serious stare. "Don't hold back." She looked uncertain. "But.." Naruto gave her a hard look, and she quieted. "No. You will face this, and whether you win or not, you _will_ try your hardest. Do I make myself clear?" Sakura straightened up, standing tall. "Hai, Naruto-sensei!" Kakashi quirked an eyebrow from the sidelines.

As Naruto retreated to the balcony with the others, Sakura marched to the center of the arena, facing Sasuke. The boy just scoffed. "As if you could do anything to me." Sakura gritted her teeth. She had worked too hard and too long to be cast aside so easily. Hayate spoke, "First match: Uchiha Sasuke versus Haruno Sakura. Hajime!" he brought his arm down between the two, jumping away.

Wasting no time, Sasuke charged toward Sakura, launching a volley of shuriken and kunai, which Sakura deflected with a kunai of her own. As Sasuke closed in, he aimed a kick at Sakura's face with a smirk, expecting an easy win. He was surprised when Sakura pushed his foot sideways while stepping in the opposite direction, causing his body to pivot. He continued the motion, sweeping low and aiming to take Sakura's feet out from under her. Sakura hopped over his leg, lashing out with a kick of her own, which was blocked. Landing, she jumped away, waiting for Sasuke to make another move. He ran towards her again, performing several hand seals. He finished the seals, launching a ball of fire at Sakura, who performed a few seals of her own, making a wall of stone rise out of the arena floor to block the fireball, creating a small explosion. Using the smoke as cover, Sasuke landed a punch on Sakura's jaw, sending her flying back. Putting on a burst of speed, he appeared behind her, kicking her in the back and sending her back the way she came. She tumbled along the floor, and Sasuke walked up to her, sneering down at her. "Pitiful. You're worthless. Just give up already!" He grabbed her by the collar, lifting her into the air and punching her repeatedly. As she was pummeled, Sakura's mind flashed back to the forest, where Sasuke had been taken over by that sickening power. She remembered how he had mercilessly beaten her, even as they were supposed to be working together. Finally, she snapped. She grabbed hold of the wrist holding her in the air, and with a sharp twist, snapped it with a crack. Sasuke yelled out in pain and anger, sending a punch towards Sakura's face. She stepped inside Sasuke's guard, and slipped a senbon into her hand, which she plunged into Sasuke's arm, hitting a pressure point, which caused it to go limp. Growling, Sasuke swung at her with his broken wrist, which she caught, twisting it further and eliciting another howl of pain. Sasuke kicked at her, but she stepped to the side, leading Sasuke along by his broken wrist, and causing further pain. Sakura pulled out another senbon, stabbing it into Sasuke's knee, causing him to fall to the ground. Sasuke looked up at her with hatred. "You bitch! How dare you humiliate me like this!" Looking at him coldly, Sakura used a jutsu she had learned from Naruto and encased her fist in stone from the arena, before pulling her arm back and delivering a fierce punch to Sasuke's face, sending him flying back into a wall, knocking him out.

The room was silent for several moments before several moments before Hayate coughed and said, "Winner, Haruno Sakura." Several people began to cheer, accompanied by polite clapping from the rest. Sakura finally came to her senses, and as she watched Sasuke gwt carted off by medics, she realized what she had done. She was slightly horrified that she had harmed her crush, but she was also proud of herself for winning.

Sakura walked up to the balcony, and was greeted by an approving nod from Naruto. "You did good, Sakura." Sakura smiled to herself. Somehow, hearing that made her feel a little better. The Genin directed their attention to the screen as the names began to flash once again.

Done, finally. Short chapter, considering how long it took, but it's not like you guys will be starved for updates in the next few weeks. I'm gonna be putting in a lot of overtime with this story, in the interest of finishing it as soon as I can. Anyways, I'll update again as soon as I finish the next chapter, which I'm starting as soon as I post this.

Don't Fear the Reaper,

Kumo no Shinigam


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey, everybody. I've been away for a while, visiting relatives for Christmas. I expected to get back on the 26th, but I didn't make it back until the 29th. **

**But enough about me. You came here to read.**

"Strike a flint and you get fire; don't strike it and not even smoke will come."

The Genin watched anxiously as the screen flashed rapidly from name to name, until it halted once more. "Uzumaki Naruto and Kinuta Dosu, please come down to the arena." Hayate spoke. Naruto looked at Aizen. "Sit this one out, buddy." Naruto said. Aizen nodded and perched on the rail. Naruto and Dosu glared at each other, before jumping over the railing and standing apart from each other. Hayate stood between them and said, "Second match: Uzumaki Naruto versus Kinuta Dosu. Hajime!" he brought his arm down between them and quickly jumped out of the way.

When the fight began, darkness immediately began to pool around Naruto. Dosu ran towards him, shouting, "You should just give up now and save yourself the embarrassment! You may have caught me off guard earlier, but you won't get lucky again!" Naruto just rolled his eyes at the other Genin and sent a darkness tendril forwards, which impaled Dosu's shoulder, carrying him back and pinning against the wall. The tendril retracted before wrapping around Dosu's ankle and tossing him back towards Naruto, who caught him by the throat with another tendril. As Naruto held the other boy in front of him, two serpentine heads with long fangs and glowing red eyes began to come forth from the shadow's, seemingly growing out of Naruto's shoulders. Naruto grinned wickedly. "Allow me to introduce you to my friends, Lefty and Righty." Dosu looked on in fear as the serpents inched closer to his face, fangs gleaming. He nearly gagged as their foul breath washed over him, the smell a combination of sulfur and rotten flesh. With a thought, Naruto commanded the heads to shoot forward, fangs tearing into Dosu's flesh. He screamed as they tore out his ribcage with a wrench, and lost consciousness as they ripped his heart out of his body. Naruto dropped the dead boy, the two serpents fighting over the heart, before swallowing it and vanishing with the rest of the darkness. The blood that was on the floor seemed to be attracted to Naruto, pooling by his feet before crawling up his body and being absorbed into his skin along with Dosu's soul.

Sighing in satisfaction, Naruto looked down at the device on Dosu's arm, and pulled it off the dead boy's wrist before looking at it. "Huh, so that's what this thing's for. Could come in handy." Naruto dropped it into his shadow before turning to Hayate, who looked even greener than usual. Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Well?" he asked impatiently. Hayate snapped out of it, saying, "Winner, Uzumaki Naruto."

The entire room stood silent once more, except for Anko, who was cheering from her position by the Hokage. As Naruto walked back up to the others, Sakura glared at him. "Did you really have to be so brutal? You could've just knocked him out!" Naruto shrugged. "His team works for Orochimaru, remember? The less spies that man has, the better. Besides, I was thirsty." Sakura just shook her head and looked back at the screen. "Abumi Zaku and Okuda Mako, please come to the arena." Hayate called.

Zaku, even with his broken arms, eagerly hopped over the railing, a cocky smile on his face. Mako walked calmly down the stairs, standing across from the boy. Hayate stood between them and said, "Third match: Abumi Zaku versus Okuda Mako. Hajime!" he brought his arm down and got out of the way.

Mako gave Zaku a strange look. "Your arms are broken. There is no way you can fight. Give up now if you want to live." Zaku just smirked. "You never know what I might have up my sleeve!" he yelled as he raised one of his arms up in front of him. "Zankuha!" he yelled, sending a large blast of wind at his opponent. Mako swung her scythe horizontally, sending out a blade of wind, which cut through Zaku's attack, dissipating it. Stabbing the pole of her scythe in the ground, she went through several hand seals before pushing her palms out in front of her and yelling, "Fuuton: Daitoppa!" Zaku was blown back into the wall, and Mako plucked her scythe out of the ground and rushed after him, Jumping into the air and raising her scythe above her head. As he saw the blade rushing towards his head, Zaku's eyes widened in fear and he screamed, "I forfeit!" He clenched his eyes shut, certain he would die, but a few second passed and he felt no pain. He opened his eyes to see the scythe just a few centimeters away from his head, Mako looking down on him with a smirk. "Winner, Okuda Mako." Hayate called out. Mako relaxed, leaning her scythe against her shoulder and walked back to her team. Zaku breathed a sigh of relief and got to his feet, walking towards his team.

The Genin looked back towards the screen, and after changing for a while it settled on two more names. "Akado Yoroi and Hyuuga Neji, please come to the arena." The two walked down to the stairs, facing each other in the center of the room. Hinata breathed a sigh of relief that she would not have to face her cousin. "Fourth match: Akado Yoroi versus Hyuuga Neji. Hajime!" Hayate called.

Neji quickly dashed forward, activating his Byakugan and aiming several strikes at his opponent, who blocked them with his hands, which were surrounded by a blue glow. Neji frowned as he felt his chakra being slightly drained when he made contact with the boy's palms. His opponent grinned, saying, "Your prized Jyuuken can't hurt me, Hyuuga. As long as I can block your strikes, I can absorb the chakra in them, making them useless." Neji's expression didn't change. "It won't matter. Fate has already determined that you will lose." He replied. Neji ran forward again, and when he was within striking distance, began to spin. "Kaiten!" He called out as a large dome of swirling chakra burst forth, rotating rapidly. There were gasps from all around the room, at least from those who recognized the significance of Neji knowing that jutsu. Yoroi was sent flying away, and tumbled along the floor for a while. He rolled to a stop, breathing hard. Meanwhile, Hinata was staring at Neji with widened eyes. The Kaiten was a move that was only ever learned by members of the Hyuuga main branch. For Neji to have learned it meant that Hinata was farther behind him than she had thought, seeing as she hadn't even learned it yet. Back below, Yoroi was climbing to his feet. He had managed to place his hands in front of his body before the attack, so he was able to absorb some of the Kaiten's energy, but it still hurt like hell. He and Neji watched each other for a moment before running towards each other once more. Neji began launching a relentless flurry of Jyuuken strikes against his opponent, who was barely able to block. Finally, Neji was able to get a few hits in, closing several tenketsu on Yoroi's arm. Yoroi pulled his arm back with a yelp of pain, giving Neji an opening, which he made full use of. Neji unleashed several more strikes on Yoroi's abdomen, before hitting him with a final palm thrust, which threw him back. As he lay on the ground motionless, Hayate walked over to him to see that he was unconscious. "Winner, Hyuuga Neji." Hayate spoke. Neji walked back to the balcony, standing with his team, who congratulated him.

They turned toward the board again, and it started to flash.

"WHAT?" The Genin were startled by the sudden shout. Naruto chuckled. "Sounds like Sasuke just heard the news." Sasuke suddenly burst through the door to the infirmary, a look of rage on his face. He looked at Sakura and snarled. "You bitch! What the hell did you do?" Sakura looked at him apologetically. "Sasuke-kun…" Sasuke only looked angrier. "I was supposed to win! I am an Uchiha! I am superior to all of you! I'll kill you!"

With a yell, Sasuke charged at Sakura with a kunai drawn, only to be immediately grabbed by Kakashi. "Sasuke! Stop it!" "Let me go!" Sasuke yelled.

"Let him go Kakashi."

Kakashi looked up, and saw Naruto standing a few feet away. Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?" Naruto nodded. "Just do it." Kakashi sighed and released Sasuke, who gritted his teeth and glared at Naruto. "You…you dare stand in my way?" "Sasuke, stop while you can. I won't warn you twice." Naruto replied, his arms crossed over his chest. Sasuke's eyes grew wide with fury, and his shoulder began to glow. "You think you can stop me? I'll destroy you!" Sasuke's left side was suddenly covered in black flame-like markings, and the sclera of his left eye turned black, with the iris turning yellow.

With a yell, he ran at Naruto. Not moving, Naruto whistled, and Aizen grew to his full size, sweeping Sasuke's feet out from under him with his tail and pinning him to the floor by placing his large foot on Sasuke's chest. Sasuke tried to squirm out, and Aizen unleashed a deafening roar right in Sasuke's face, stunning the boy. Naruto walked over to the boy, shaking his head. "You never learn, do you Sasuke?" Naruto held his hand out, and a ball of black energy covered in glowing golden runes appeared in his hand. "Hakumeiton: Twilight Shroud." Naruto spoke. He knelt down, pressing the ball into Sasuke's head. Aizen lifted his foot off the boy, and the ball grew until it enveloped Sasuke's entire body, before fading away, leaving Sasuke on the ground, his eyes glazed over and staring at nothing.

Sarutobi jumped down from his balcony, landing next to Naruto. "I thought you sealed his curse mark." He said. Naruto shook his head. "The seal was only meant to destroy the curse mark. Now that Sasuke has used its power willingly, it has a hold on him." Can you reseal it?" Sarutobi asked. Naruto nodded. "Yes, but it will take longer to get rid of now." Sarutobi nodded. "Whatever it takes, just get rid of that vile thing." Naruto nodded, and bent down to Sasuke, resealing his curse mark with the same process he had used before, but made sure to strengthen it a bit.

Sasuke was still staring at the ceiling, not moving but still blinking occasionally. Sarutobi looked down at him. "What was that jutsu you used?" He asked Naruto. "That was my Hakumeiton. It's a fusion of light and shadow chakra." "What did it do to him?" "It sent him into a sort of trance. It's almost like sleepwalking. He's not asleep, but he's not awake either. He'll stay like this until I release the jutsu." Naruto explained. Sarutobi nodded. He snapped his fingers, and three ANBU jumped down into the arena, grabbed Sasuke, and vanished. He turned to the proctor. "Continue the matches." Hayate nodded, and Sarutobi jumped back up to his balcony.

From the balcony, Orochimaru had been watching silently. 'Just how strong are you, Uzumaki?'

The Genin once more turned their attention to the screen, which flashed through several names before settling on a pair. "Yamanaka Ino and Sabaku no Kankuro, come down the arena please." The two shinobi faced each other in the middle of the ring, each with a confident smirk on their face. 'If Sakura could beat Sasuke-kun, then I'll have no trouble with this weirdo!' Ino thought confidently. "Fifth match: Yamanaka Ino versus Sabaku no Kankuro. Hajime!"

Ino jumped back, launching several shuriken at Kankuro, who deflected them with a kunai. "You'll have to do better than that if you want to last long against me." Kankuro said with a smirk. Ino glared. "Shut up! I'm way stronger than you!" "Oh really?" Kankuro said mockingly. "You're so weak, I'll even give you a free hit. Give me your best shot." Ino smirked. 'I'll hit him with my Shintenshin no jutsu! Once I've taken control, I'll force him to forfeit!' "Fine then, if you're so confident. But don't think you won't regret this! Shintenshin no jutsu!" Ino performed the proper hand signs, and launched her jutsu at Kankuro. The audience held their breath, and Asuma smirked. "Poor guy didn't even try to dodge. It's all over now." Naruto, who was standing nearby, shook his head. "I don't think so." Asuma raised his eyebrow. "What are you talking about?" Naruto inclined his head towards the match. "Watch and see." They turned their attention back to the fight, where Ino had seemingly taken control of Kankuro's mind. After she had used her jutsu, Ino's body had slumped over on the ground, and Kankuro had gone stiff. Suddenly, the boy began to chuckle. Or rather, the bundle on his back began to chuckle. The wrappings began to unravel, revealing that the bundle was the real Kankuro, and the one than Ino had been fighting was a puppet. Asuma drew in a breath. "I see. She wasted her attack on a puppet." Naruto nodded. "Yes, although the Shintenshin no jutsu can be very useful, it really should only be used against an opponent who can't avoid it, lest the attack miss, and leave the user incapacitated." The Jonin looked at him strangely. "How is it you are so familiar with the Yamanaka's jutsu?" asked Kakashi. "I have absorbed the memories of a member of each clan in Konoha through the blood packs the hospital gives me, giving me an intimate knowledge of all their techniques, including the Uchiha clan." Naruto explained. The Jonin looked alarmed. "Naruto, we will speak to the Hokage about this later." Kakashi said. Naruto simply nodded, and they turned their attention back to the match. Kankuro smirked as he climbed out of the wrappings, and walked over to Ino, and placed a Kunai at her throat. "Proctor, call the match." Kankuro said. "Winner, Sabaku no Kankuro." Hayate announced. He was met with polite applause, and walked back to his team.

Shadows began to pool under Ino's body, and she sank into the floor, reappearing out of the wall next to Naruto, who lowered her down gently, resting her against the wall. Asuma, Shikamaru and Choji each gave Naruto a nod of appreciation, which he returned, before they all began to watch the screen again. It changed for a few moments before settling on two more names. "Tsuchi Kin and Nara Shikamaru, please come down to the arena." Shikamaru sighed. "I have to fight a girl? What a drag." He lazily wandered down the stairs as Kin waited impatiently below. When Shikamaru arrived, Hayate stood between the two, his arm in the air. "Sixth match, Nara Shikamaru versus Kin Tsuchi. Hajime!" He brought his arm down between the two, and the match began.

As the match began down below, Sakura heard a groan from beside her. She looked down to see Ino beginning to stir. Ino opened her eyes, and as she came to her senses, she realized that she was sitting against the wall, up on the balcony. She saw Sakura looking down at her, and sighed. "I lost, didn't I?" Ino asked. Sakura gave her a sympathetic smile and nodded. Ino just sighed again and climbed to her feet. "I can't believe I'm so far behind you." Ino said glumly.

Sakura patted her rival on the back. "Don't be so hard on yourself, I'm sure it was just bad luck." She assured. Ino shook her head. "Sakura, the difference between us is painfully obvious. You were even able to beat Sasuke-kun! There's no way I'll be able to win his affection now. So, I guess you win." Ino stared down at the floor sadly. Sakura frowned. "After what I've seen over the past few days, I'm not so sure about Sasuke anymore." Ino looked up. "What do you mean?" She asked, confused.

Sakura shrugged. "Well, he's tried to kill me twice since the exams started. I guess I've just seen what he's really like. He doesn't care about me the way I thought he did. He's not the kind, handsome gentleman I always thought he was." Ino looked confused. "Well, I saw what he did earlier, but when was the fist time?" she asked.

Sakura explained what had happened in the Forest of Death, and when she finished, Ino was shocked. "That's horrible!" she exclaimed. Sakura nodded. "I'm just lucky Naruto woke up when he did. I'm not sure what would have happened otherwise." She said. Ino nodded, but frowned again. "That still doesn't change the fact that your miles ahead of me. How the hell did you get so strong, anyway?" Sakura shrugged. "Naruto's been training me." Ino raised an eyebrow. "Naruto? What about your sensei?" she asked, confused.

Sakura snorted. "He hasn't taught me one thing! He shoved me off on someone else the first chance he got. I'm just lucky that person happened to be Naruto." Sakura said. "I can hear you, you know!" Kakashi complained from three feet away. Sakura stuck her tongue out at him and he grumbled and turned back towards the match, while Naruto snickered.

Back down below, Shikamaru had captured Kin in his Kagemane no jutsu, trapping her. Kin gritted her teeth in frustration, struggling against the jutsu. Shikamaru took out a shuriken, causing Kin to mirror his actions. "If you make me throw this, you'll just get hit too you idiot!" Kin yelled. "Be quiet, you troublesome girl." Shikamaru drawled. He launched his shuriken at Kin, causing her to do the same. Just as the shuriken was about to hit him, Shikamaru bent over backwards, causing the shuriken to sail over him. Kin also bent over backwards, but she had been standing just in front of a wall, and was knocked out when she bashed her head against it. Shikamaru's jutsu receded, and Hayate called out, "Winner, Nara Shikamaru." Shikamaru stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked back to his team.

The screen began to flash again, and after a moment, landed on two more names. "Akimichi Choji and Tsurugi Misumi, please come down to the arena." Hayate called out. The two proceeded down to the middle of the room, standing apart from each other. "Seventh match, Akimichi Choji versus Tsurugi Misumi. Hajime!" Hayate brought his arm down and jumped out of the way.

Misumi smirked behind his mask. "You might as well forfeit now fatty, because you won't be beating me." He taunted. "I AM NOT FAT! I'M BIG-BONED!" Choji yelled. He charged forward, his fist held back. "I'll show you what I can do!" Choji launched his fist at the other Genin, but was surprised when his punch was caught. Suddenly, Misumi grabbed onto Choji, his limbs bending and twisting as if they were made of rubber. Choji struggled to break free, but he was unable to break Misumi's grip. "This is my special ability." Misumi said. "It allows me to dislocate my joints and control my body with chakra, giving me extreme flexibility. So don't even try to escape, or I'll snap your neck." Choji gritted his teeth. "Nikudan Sensha!" he yelled, and with a puff of smoke his body turned into a giant ball, with Misumi still wrapped around him. Choji launched forward, and slammed into the wall, crushing Misumi and leaving a crater. With a puff of smoke, Choji shrunk back to normal, revealing Misumi laying in an unconscious heap on the ground. "Winner, Akimichi Choji." Hayate announced. Choji walked back to the balcony while his friends cheered, and everybody turned to the screen once more.

**I'm stopping there. If I tried to put all the fights in this chapter, it'd never get done.**

**It seems my hopes of finishing this story before the end of the year were just a teensy bit optimistic. It's just not possible. I don't know when I'll finish this story. Or even if I will. I've been seriously considering just giving up on this story. I know there are people who like this story, and I'm very grateful to the people who have reviewed, and I'd really rather not disappoint those people like that. But I just feel like I've made a complete mess of this story. It's only chapter seven and the story's already in the middle of the chunin exams, for fuck's sake! I've taken things too fast, and the story has suffered because of it. I made Naruto too strong too fast, I introduce characters and barely give them any development, and I'm constantly making all sorts of little mistakes. Like a few chapters ago, at the beginning of the exams, I described how many Genin from each country were attending. NOWHERE did I make any mention of any Kiri Genin. And yet, as soon as they get to the tower, VOILA! Kiri Genin! You could just chalk that up to my omnipotence as the author, but the fact is that that's just shitty writing. And don't even get me started on the plot! Even if I did have any idea where to take this thing past the Sasuke retrieval arc (which I don't), the plot would be just the same generic bullshit this site is clogged up with. Even if I did give Naruto a few cool tricks, the plot itself is still a turd.**

**Forgive me for ranting, but I just had to get that all off my chest. Please, for the love of God, give me some feedback.**

**Don't Fear The Reaper, **

**Kumo no Shinigami**


	8. Goodbye

All right, I've made my decision. This story is going away for a while. I might finish it eventually, or maybe just rewrite it, but not until I give it some serious revision.

**Don't Fear the Reaper, **

**Kumo no Shinigami **


End file.
